In recent years, Coco Gauff has found herself reflecting on the long-term relationships tennis forges. The opponents she faced years ago on the junior circuit are many of the same players she battles now as a top professional. If she and her contemporaries enjoy the long, full careers they are working towards, many of the same faces will be there until the end.
This means that Gauff, at 20 years old, has a long time to work towards reconfiguring her game and changing the direction of match-ups with Iga Swiatek, but it is also hard not to wonder how excruciating these encounters could become over the next 10 years. Like last year in the quarter-finals and the final a year before, Swiatek continued her dominance of Gauff as she reached her fourth French Open final with a 6-2, 6-4 win. Her record against the American stands at 11-1.
Just a few days after her 23rd birthday, Swiatek has now reached four Roland Garros finals in her past five appearances. She stands one match away from a generational achievement that would cement her spot among the clay court greats: on Saturday, Swiatek will attempt to become the third woman in the open era to win three consecutive French Open titles. No woman has achieved this feat since Justine Henin in 2007.
Having arrived here with titles at Madrid and Rome, Swiatek has won 18 matches in a row, equalling her longest winning streak on clay from 2022. She has compiled a 16-4 record against top-five players since reaching No 1 in March. Last Wednesday, her pursuit of history was nearly derailed by Naomi Osaka in their instant classic second-round match. She has been on a revenge tour ever since.
The task ahead of Gauff on Thursday was succinctly summed up one point into the contest. After Gauff struck a forehand error, a voice rang out from the crowd: “Allez Coco! C’est pas fini.” (It’s not over). The fan may have felt differently after the first game ended with Gauff quickly striking three forehand errors and losing her serve.
Gauff’s desperate record against Swiatek has certainly not been for a lack of trying. Each time she has fallen badly short, the American has made significant changes to her approach. In last year’s quarter-final, Gauff spent the match trying to junkball Swiatek with slow, loopy topspin forehands, a tactic that was relatively successful. Swiatek still won 6-4, 6-2.
This time, Gauff was determined to attack as early as possible, but it is not her style of play. Her error count grew and she missed by several centimetres rather than millimetres. While still in third gear, striking two winners and five unforced errors compared with 12 winners and 18 unforced errors from Gauff, Swiatek rolled through the set.
Gauff has spoken impressively about her difficult match-up with Swiatek, always resolving to approach each new match with a clean slate, but it is clear that so many defeats have left a mark. While Swiatek was just testing the waters and finding her feeth, in the opening few games Gauff already looked like she was fighting for her life in a final set.
As Gauff found joy with her first serve and strung games together early in the second set, she was urged on by the crowd, breaking serve for a 1-3 lead. But Swiatek always looked comfortable. She immediately forced herself inside the baseline, took control of the exchanges and methodically broke Gauff’s forehand. From 1-3 down, she rolled through four consecutive games before calmly serving out the match.
The defeat places Gauff in a curious position. On one hand, she is doing incredibly well; she has more than fulfilled the hype that has followed her since her teenage year, establishing herself as a grand slam champion and one of the very best players in the world. Next week, she will rise to a career-high ranking of No 2, behind Swiatek.
But in their 11 matches, Swiatek has rolled through Gauff in straight sets in every match she has won. At this point, their match-ups are even marginally more lopsided than the rivalry between Serena Williams and Maria Sharapova. It is up to Gauff to figure out how to close the gap.