As the world No.1, the best player on clay and the defending champion in Paris, another Roland Garros title for Iga Swiatek may seem like business as usual.
But when you consider just how hard she was pushed at the business end of the 2023 tournament, and the tennis icons she matched with her latest triumph, the achievement takes on a far greater significance.
Swiatek overcame a gallant Karolina Muchova in a marvellous two-hour, 46-minute final, one she led 6-2 3-0 but during which she was forced to recover from a break down in the third set.
In the semifinals she saved a set point in a taut second-set tiebreak against Beatriz Haddad Maia, and on Saturday, faced a break point at 4-4 in the third against Muchova.
Had she lost that, Muchova would have served for her first Grand Slam title.
“For sure I felt like I let her a little bit into the match, which I shouldn't do, but obviously she's a great player so she used that chance,” Swiatek reflected after her 6-2 5-7 6-4 victory.
“In the third set I didn't want to have any regrets about the second. I just kind of looked forward, and I said to myself: ‘Okay, you know what? I'm just going to give it all. No thinking, no like, I don't know, analysing. Just play my game, use my intuition’. And that's really helped.
“Since Stuttgart (in April) I haven't been home. So I'm happy that, I don't know, I finished the whole clay court swing so well, and that I kind of survived.
“I guess I'm never going to kind of doubt my strength again maybe because of that.”
This was a triumph unlike anything Swiatek had accomplished.
And that’s because she is better known for winning efficiently and ruthlessly.
In the 13 finals she won prior to this, all except one were completed in straight sets. And she had never lost a set in a Grand Slam final.
That trend continued when she mostly controlled the first set against Muchova, achieving an Open Era record in the process.
Staggeringly, Muchova had never lost a match to a player ranked in the top three. And she is becoming increasingly known for her comebacks on the biggest stages, as Ash Barty (Australian Open 2021) and Aryna Sabalenka (Thursday’s semifinal) can attest.
She did the same against Swiatek, troubling the world No.1 with her aggression, daring and variety – and lifting the crowd to their feet at one point with her extraordinary level of play.
She snatched the second set – snapping Swiatek’s streak of 20 consecutive sets won in Paris – and twice went up a break in the third.
But Swiatek locked down when confronted with that break point in the ninth game. She forced an error to save it, and wrested control, winning seven of the last eight points to complete an emotional victory.
“To play against her, you have to be ready. The balls are coming fast. She's not doing any easy mistakes, and you always know that you have a chance and you have to take it, because maybe there is no other chance,” observed Muchova, who after years of injury woes is projected to rise to a career-best ranking of 16th.
“That's why she's world No.1 and you have to bring your best performance to be able to beat her.
“(This result is) good for the confidence. It says to me that I'm able to do this, to do this big results. It's very motivational, and now I feel I can do it and I will for sure try to get there again and to put up a fight for the title on the next stages.”
Swiatek has now won three of the past four Roland Garros titles, becoming the first woman since Justine Henin 16 years ago to defend in Paris.
Only Henin (four), Graf (six) and Evert (seven) own more French titles than Swiatek, and fittingly, it was Evert who presented the Pole with her trophy.
Swiatek this fortnight surpassed Evert’s winning rate of 92.3 per cent at Roland Garros. With a win-loss record of 28-2, Swiatek has won 93.5 per cent of her matches at the tournament, better than any woman in the Open era except Margaret Court.
She has built a 14-match winning streak at Roland Garros while improving her record in finals to an impressive 14-4.
"Still there are things I wanna work on,” Swiatek told Tennis Channel in a courtside interview following the final.
“The biggest emotion I think (I) feel is the need to constantly get better ... still there is a lot I can achieve in tennis, I think.”
When asked exactly what that might be, Swiatek played her cards close to her chest.
Just 22 years of age, her achievements all but guarantee her a place in the International Tennis Hall of Fame.
But she hinted she could do more.
“I don't know what I'm kind of capable of,” she said, perhaps an ominous statement for the rest of the women’s tour.
4!!!!!???#RolandGarros pic.twitter.com/JiBQy6bUif
— Iga Świątek (@iga_swiatek) June 10, 2023
“So I will work day by day to play (the) best game possible and to develop as a player. I'm not setting like any (of) these crazy records or goals for myself.
“I know that keeping it cool is the best way to do it for me. I'm trying more to do that.”