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ROLAND GARROS – It’s not the first time Iga Swiatek has had a spirited practice at Roland Garros with an ATP Tour player.
But this isn’t 2021, when she came to Roland Garros as the 2020 fall defending champion – her first – but was just turning 20 and not the Roland Garros icon she is today.
That year, she got to hit with her idol, Rafael Nadal. And it was a big thing.
Here’s what that looked like.
Fast forward four years – and four Roland Garros titles in all – and it’s Swiatek who is getting the asks.
So before this year’s tournament, Chilean-Canadian Alejandro Tabilo was granted an audience with the queen.
(We’re not being hyperbolic here; Tabilo’s coach actually called her that, when they were discussing what drills to do and he and Tabilo were very much on board with whatever she wanted to work on).
It was Swiatek’s team that may have messaged Tabilo first, early on.
“We’ve been trying to plan it since, I think, Indian Wells. And with the rest and everything (Tabilo didn’t play after Monte Carlo, returning to Chile to rest and try to heal up a wrist problem) we never had the chance. But I think when I was coming here (to Paris) my coach messaged her team,” Tabilo told Open Court.
The two had never met until they stepped on the court just before the start of the tournament.
“A pleasure. To try and practice with her was something new, a different kind of ball so it was great practice. I actually even told her it was one of the best practices I’ve had, with the intensity in the level she has,” he added. “It helped a lot and we hit a LOT. It was very very intense, so very happy about that”.
Here’s just a brief clip of them hitting.
(We’re not allowed to shoot video – even of practice sessions – these days at Roland Garros, even though the fans do it all day long. It’s hard to even get to WATCH practices during the qualifying week, even after travelling all this way. So hopefully it doesn’t get dinged for copyright).
This brief clip doesn’t do justice to what was going on. That particular rally probably went on for … 50 more strokes. At least. The two were gasping by the end.
Tabilo couldn’t really say if he was going full-out, 100 per cent on his shots. But he said it was close.
“We did a lot more drills than play that many points. So in that aspect I was very tired. Actually my legs were killing me,” Tabilo said, laughing. “The rallies were so long, and it was a great to be able to to get the rhythm back. I haven’t been playing that much; it was good to get back there and get the lungs going a little bit.”
Tabilo said he was really impressed with how Swiatek was able to stay focused the entire practice, and keep the intensity at top level the entire time.
“In those drills neither of us, I think, goes full out because we trying to make the rally last, so you try and make a make them play a little bit more. But, I mean, how she kept going as is incredible. It shows how she won so many times here, how she’s been No. 1 in the world,” he said. “So it was great to see it from that that side. I think I learned a lot from the practice.”
Here’s a photo gallery of the hit.
The practice with Nadal four years ago didn’t end up bringing Swiatek good luck; she came in as the Rome champion, but was shocked in the quarterfinals by Maria Sakkari.
She’s already ahead of the game this year. With the win over Elina Svitolina Tuesday, Swiatek is into the semifinals. She will face Aryna Sabalenka on Thursday.
As for Tabilo, who had no expectations given his absence and uncertain fitness, he pulled off a five-set win over Frenchman Arthur Cazaux in the first round. But then he went out to No. 25 seed Alexei Popyrin in the second round and to get more matches in, took a wild card into the Challenger in Prostejov this week.
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