Triumph of Iga Swiatek in the women’s final of Roland Garros 2022. In a match without history, the formidable Polish tennis player beat the American Cori Gauff by a score of 6-1 6-3 and won the second career slam after the same French Open won in 2020.
Therefore, the undisputed domination of the number one of the WTA circuit continues, which has obtained the 35th consecutive victory and already won 6 tournaments in 2022 (the Parisian slam, the 4 Master 1000 of Doha, Indian Wells, Miami and Rome and the WTA 500 of Stuttgart).
Among the guests of honor who flocked to Philippe Chatrier to witness the success of Swiatek was also the legend Billie Jean King, winner of 12 career singles Slams, including one in Paris in 1972. The former American tennis player at the press conference made some interesting statements on the possibility of shortening the men’s matches in the grand Slam tournaments from 5 to 3 sets.
Billie Jean King: “Ok the 3 sets in the Slams”
Billie Jean King brought the example of Nadal to support her thesis, visibly tested in the last few matches by his foot injury and the long games that saw him protagonist against Felix Auger-Aliassime, Novak Djokovic and Alexander Zverev.
“I’ve always said that you should only play the best of three sets. As players get older, I want them to be able to play. Nadal for example, do you want me to stop playing? I don’t want it to ever stop. They create a huge following in our sport.
I want it to be possible for them to win. In a best-of-five game, they can lose to attrition. The older they get, the harder it is. I prefer quality to quantity. If you want the girls to play five sets, they will be happy to do so, but there would be too much to plan.
Usually men are running the tournaments, although now there are some exceptions. I think we should play three sets, men and women. Also, you should be allowed to wear the same item of clothing, which should have your name on the back.”