The Closer

Iga has the shots and the nerve

Iga Swiatek was flat on her back in tears on the red clay, and the most impressive stat in women’s tennis just keeps getting better.

Swiatek had to save three championship points in Madrid against an inspired Aryna Sabalenka to manage it, but Swiatek is now 20-4 in WTA singles finals.

That is a serious strike rate: a reflection of her talent, physicality and drive but also of her mental strength and preparation. Surely few young, world-class athletes have thought about thinking as much as Swiatek, who has become a fixture at No. 1 at age 22.

Her team is an analytical crew, too, led by coach Tomasz Wiktorowski and performance psychologist and confidante-in-chief Daria Abramowicz, a former competitive sailor.

“Cognitively Iga’s on a very high level, especially in the complex cognitive abilities,” Abramowicz told me recently. “Analytical thinking. Solving problems. That’s why she was majoring in math in high school. That’s why she gets along so well with Tomasz. He’s the same way, the same mind. Very cause-effect oriented.”

Not much is left to chance, which is the way that Swiatek likes it.