Iga Swiatek’s Instagram profile reads: “Tennis player from Poland trying to put this yellow fluffy thing between the lines.”
It sounds so simple and the world No. 2 makes it seem so simple, rapidly adjusting footwork with motoring quick steps, crunching the ball and outmaneuvering pretty much every player on the planet.
Of course, there is more to it than that, but it’s very easy to forget that the Pole is still only 24 years old. She’s still en route to her physical peak and can still achieve so much more in the sport.
Without a major in her debut at the top table in 2019, Swiatek has since captured six Grand Slam titles, yielded from six finals from 2020 to 2025. Jazda, indeed.
Within that trophy-laden bracket of 2020 to 2025, she has reached at the very least a Grand Slam quarterfinal every year.
There was concern after Roland Garros in June, when the world No. 2 surrendered her crown in Paris. The wait for any title went on over a year. What was happening to Swiatek?
Within the Pole’s camp there was zero panic after Paris, the relentless work ethic was maintained and she was rewarded with a “surreal” triumph on her least-favored surface of grass at Wimbledon.
Ruling on Centre Court at the All England Club meant Swiatek joined Margaret Court and Monica Seles as the only women in the Open Era to prevail in their first six Grand Slam singles finals.
“I’m just proud of myself because, who would have expected that?” Swiatek said at Wimbledon. “I feel like tennis keeps surprising me, and I keep surprising myself.”
Taking just her Grand Slam journey in 2025, Swiatek has chalked up an Australian Open semifinal, a Roland Garros semifinal and then the championship at Wimbledon.
So, despite outside perception, Swiatek has elevated her already supreme Grand Slam consistency. What about New York?
Back in Round 2, the 2022 champion appeared perplexed by her up-and-down performance, but like all Hall of Fame talents, found a way, 6-1, 4-6, 6-4, past Suzan Lamens.
By Round 4 on Monday, Swiatek had clicked back into a devastating patch of form once again. The No. 2 seed blazed past world No. 12 Ekaterina Alexandrova, 6-3, 6-1, in just 64 minutes. Swiatek, as she does at most majors, is finding the peak of her powers at the optimum time.
In doing so, at 24 years and 85 days, the Pole became the youngest WTA player to reach all four Grand Slam quarterfinals in a calendar year since a teenaged Maria Sharapova in 2005. The job at Flushing Meadows is far from finished this fortnight. Take her Round 4 victory, Swiatek messaged her team just prior to her on-court interview to book an extra practice session.
“I think it was, like, 15, 20 minutes. Nothing intense,” claimed the 2022 US Open winner, with that champion’s mentality shining through.
Into the Elite 8 and Swiatek has earned a Wimbledon final re-match with American Amanda Anisimova.
That 6-0, 6-0 demolition, done and dusted in 57 minutes, was only the second time in the Open Era that a women’s Grand Slam champion triumphed without offering up a single game. The other player, Steffi Graf at Roland Garros 1988. Swiatek surrounds herself in that all-time greatness.
Shortly after that emphatic Wimbledon final, Swiatek told reporters in London it was vital to show “no mercy” on Centre Court.
Swiatek can expect a far more raucous atmosphere in Arthur Ashe Stadium on Wednesday. But the Pole knows how to operate in the electrifying US Open night sessions.
No mercy again on Anisimova’s home turf?
“I think most of us were raised that way. If you want to become an athlete, you need to want to win the point,” said Swiatek.
“I think every athlete has kind of the same vision and mentality, but obviously because of the score at Wimbledon, everybody started asking this question. When you don't play sports, you don't get it, but if you do, then you know that you're not going to give anything for free.”
Supreme major consistency, with Swiatek showing no mercy—it’s a familiar tale.
