Swiatek reveals Nadal inspiration after 'most intense and crazy final' of career

Iga Swiatek has revealed how Rafael Nadal’s heroics inspired her to Madrid Open victory in the “most intense and crazy final” she has ever played.

Swiatek looked to be facing defeat on several occasions in the final set as she was down a break and then faced three championship points.

“One thing that came through my mind was actually that I think Rafa had couple of matches like that,” said Swiatek after beating Sabalenka.

“Guys have three sets, so they may have a little bit more time on Grand Slams to do that. But I remember exactly when he was playing Medvedev in Australia and it clicked for him. It felt like it.

“He also struggled for a bit of time with some, he was tense and I think stressed. I’m not sure because I haven’t talked to him. But it felt like that. That kind of gave me hope that maybe it will click, even after two hours.

“For most of the match, I was really trying to loosen up a little bit more. I felt like I can play better because I played better here on my past matches.

“Actually, felt like I need to dig through for these two hours and it didn’t really work. I was, like, ‘Oh, my God, am I going to feel a little bit more loose soon?’ It didn’t really happen, and then after two hours, it did. I was surprised by that.”

Swiatek started to find her very best tennis against Sabalenka in the final set after falling 3-1 behind.

A high-quality contest saw plenty of blows exchanged before Swiatek prevailed in three hours and 11 minutes to win her 20th career title.

“A lot of emotions,” added Swiatek. “But for sure I’m really proud of myself and really happy, because when you have matches like that and when you actually have to fight through some stuff, it makes it even better. So I’m really proud of myself.

“I think we both kind of deserved to win today. I think it was only about these little points in the tiebreaker.

“I tend to erase most of the stuff when it already happened. So it’s hard to compare with previous matches. But I would say looking at only the finals, I think it was the most intense and crazy final I played.”

Swiatek has now won her last seven finals and is level with world No. 4 Elena Rybakina for the most titles (three) and match wins (30) this season.

Her first victory in Madrid means Swiatek has also now won all the major WTA titles on clay – not that that was on her mind.

“Honestly, I never thought of these things that way because for me each tournament is a separate story,” she said.

“But for sure it’s good to have it on your Wikipedia, and you guys have been asking for that, so here you go. For sure when I look back in maybe a few years, it will mean a lot. But for now I’m just happy that I won this tournament anyway. Doesn’t matter for me if I won it before or not. I try to win each tournament that I play.”

The Madrid title win has seen Swiatek open up a 3,412-point lead over Sabalenka in the rankings.

That is Swiatek’s biggest lead as world No. 1 since Indian Wells last year.

Swiatek could increase her lead further at the Italian Open, which starts this week, as she only has 215 points to defend from making the quarter-finals last year.