Since Serena Williams in 2015, no player has won the Porte d'Auteuil women's singles multiple times.

The tournament has not yet started, Iga Swiatek, surprise winner in 2020, is still far from it.

Precisely at seven matches.

But compared to his current series of 28 victories, these seven steps already seem less high.

And to look at the ones she has just swallowed with great strides, they shrink even further.

"If I approach it (Roland-Garros) like any other tournament, I think everything will be fine and I can continue like this," she projected without apprehension after her second consecutive success in Rome on Sunday.

Full of confidence, the Polish player with a terribly aggressive game, has only lost one set (in 9 matches) since the start of the clay court season.

At almost 21 years old (May 31), Iga Swiatek confirms that ocher is her kingdom.

The first title of his career - at Roland-Garros quite simply - left you guessing.

Since then, she has collected half of her titles on earth.

"Fresh and fearless energy"

"I'm always more comfortable playing on clay, she admitted in April. In fact, I feel like I can hit even more varied shots than on hard courts."

Poland's Iga Swiatek performs a forehand against Tunisia's Ons Jabeur during the WTA tournament final in Rome on May 15, 2022 at Foro Italico.

Andreas SOLARO AFP

Even if she also manages on acrylic: her victories in Indian Wells and Miami this year attest to it.

In fact, she only lost three times in 2022, including one against a player who has since put away her racket: the ex-world No.1 Ashleigh Barty, whom she succeeded to the delight of the Australian.

"If it's Iga (who takes first place in the ranking), there is no better person", praised Barty after the announcement of his retirement from tennis.

"She's an amazing person, a great tennis player. The fresh, fearless energy she brings to the court is amazing."

Swiatek's insane streak has since proven him right.

With 28 successes in a row, the right-hander has signed the longest since Serena Williams (34) in 2013. In the event of another Porte d'Auteuil coronation, she could overtake her and equal the record of the 2000s, that of the other sister Williams, Venus (35 in 2000).

- "Click" -

"Being part of this kind of group is like a dream come true for me, she savored in Italy (...) I'm quite happy to have done (this series) because consistency was the thing on which I really wanted to work last year. This year, I feel like something clicked."

The youngest winner of Roland-Garros since 1992 and the victory of Monica Seles, Swiatek has made enormous progress in her approach to matches since her elimination against Greece's Maria Sakkari in the quarter-finals last year.

“With Daria (Abramowicz, the sports psychologist who accompanies him), we have worked a lot to change my mental approach. I am rather proud of it”, she delivered last week.

"What we've been doing for the past few weeks is developing that mindset of accepting that there's no such thing as an indefinite streak. At some point, it's going to lose a game (.. .) And that's okay because it's life, it's sport, its beauty and reality," Daria Abramowicz described in a WTA podcast last month.

"But once accepted that it can happen, she warns, it does not mean wanting it."

© 2022 AFP