Iga Swiatek wins second grand slam title with victory against Coco ...

(CNN) Iga Swiatek has been nearly unstoppable this year -- and now she has a second grand slam title to prove it.

The Polish star won the French Open for the second time on Saturday as she defeated Coco Gauff 6-1 6-3 in Paris, extending her unbeaten run to 35 matches.

That equals Venus Williams' 21st century record for consecutive wins set back in 2000 and cements Swiatek's status as the best player in women's tennis at the moment.

"Two years ago, winning this title was something amazing, I wouldn't expect it ever," the 21-year-old said during her on-court interview after the match.

"But this time I feel like I worked hard and did everything to get here even though it was pretty tough and the pressure was big."

Swiatek plays a backhand in the French Open final.

Swiatek dropped just one set on the way to the final and was largely untroubled by Gauff in the American's first grand slam singles final.

After breaking Gauff twice at the start of the first set, Swiatek raced into a 4-0 lead before wrapping up the set in just 32 minutes.

The world No. 1 found herself under pressure for the first time in the match at the start of the second set when Gauff converted her first break point and held her serve to take a 2-0 lead.

It was only a glimmer of hope for the 18-year-old, however, as Swiatek quickly shut the door by taking the next five games in a row.

Gauff was able to hold, but so too did Swiatek -- taking the set, the match, and another French Open title.

She has now won six consecutive tournaments in a winning run that stretches back to February 16 when she lost to Jelena Ostapenko in Dubai.

"I felt the pressure, I felt baggage on my shoulders, I wasn't the underdog anymore," she told NBC about entering the tournament as the top-ranked player on a winning streak.

"I'm even more proud of that -- that I could do it and make it for the second time."

As for Gauff, she struggled for consistency against Swiatek, hitting 23 unforced errors over the course of the match, 14 of which came in the first set.

Gauff cuts a frustrated figure against Swiatek.

She was visibly emotional at the conclusion of the match, but in time will be able to reflect on a successful tournament, during which she didn't drop a set until the final.

And from Monday, Gauff will rise to a career-high position of 13th in the world rankings.

"I know that I'll get this opportunity again and I hope that I can come on top next time," she told NBC.

"Today, I really tried my best to win. Obviously, I would change the result but the decisions that I made I thought were the right decisions in the moment and I can't really change that."

The focus of the women's tour now turns to the grass court swing ahead of Wimbledon, which starts on June 27.

Swiatek, who plays her best tennis on clay, has never progressed further than the fourth round of Wimbledon in her two appearances there, but now looks likely to better that record in the coming weeks.

Iga Swiatek: the unstoppable superstar of women's tennis | The ...

Iga Swiatek is a two-time grand slam champion after a dazzling display in the French Open final against Coco Gauff. The Pole, 21, beat the American teenager 6-1, 6-3 to win her second title in three years at Roland Garros.

Not since “Serena Williams in her prime” had there been “as strong a favourite for a grand slam women’s singles title” as Swiatek, said Jonathan Jurejko on BBC Sport. The top seed, who also won Roland Garros in 2020, “underlined why she was the red-hot favourite” by winning in straight sets for her sixth successive title.

For 68 minutes on Saturday, the women’s world No.1 “captivated the tennis world”, said D’Arcy Maine on ESPN.com. Swiatek showed “blistering, athletic play” to dismantle “teenage phenom” Gauff, winning the “first four games of the match – and never looked back”. It was her 35th straight victory and she leaves Paris as the “dominant force in women’s tennis, and one who is poised for future greatness”.

‘It’s something special’

Taking her career title count to nine overall, Swiatek has “cemented her status at the top of the women’s game”, said Courtney Nguyen on WTATennis.com. She has “amassed a longer winning streak” than 23-time major champion Serena Williams, “who ran off 34 wins in 2013”, and has tied with Venus Williams for the longest streak in the 2000s.

After going 5-0 to win Doha, 6-0 to win Indian Wells, 6-0 to win Miami, 2-0 in the Billie Jean King Cup, 4-0 to win Stuttgart, 5-0 to win Rome and now 7-0 to win Roland Garros, Swiatek “joins some very rare company”, said John Berkok on Tennis.com. She is just the “eighth woman in the entire Open Era to have a winning streak of 35 or more matches in a row”.

It may seem “pretty weird”, but “having that 35th win and kind of doing something more than Serena did, it’s something special”, Swiatek said. “Because I always wanted to have some kind of a record. In tennis, it’s pretty hard after Serena’s career. So basically that really hit me.”

At the top of the WTA rankings the gap has widened between her and the rest of the field, Berkok added on Tennis.com. After capturing her second slam title on the “terre battue”, she now has a 4,305-point lead over new world No.2 Anett Kontaveit – 8,631 to 4,326.

4.7 - Iga #Swiatek has lost 4.7 games on average per match in her 10 WTA-level finals: she is the player with the lowest games-lost ratio in finals since 2000 (min. 10 finals). Unbelievable.@WTA @WTA_insider https://t.co/SG6u4JRXvA pic.twitter.com/oVGN67B3hg — OptaAce (@OptaAce) June 4, 2022

Needing a ‘plan B’ in case tennis didn’t work out

Swiatek has beaten the odds to become the next “tennis superstar”, said Tumaini Carayol in The Guardian. She “displayed her early promise as a junior”, but it took a long time for her to “believe that she could achieve the career that she is currently building”. Reflecting on her journey from a junior to world No.1, Swiatek admitted that even in 2020, when she won the French Open for the first time, she still felt like she “needed a plan B in case tennis is not gonna work out”.

When Swiatek arrived in Paris two years ago, “she was a virtual unknown”, said Maine on ESPN.com. Now, it seems as though the WTA has found the “elusive superstar talent who can consistently contend for major titles on different surfaces – and do what so few have been able to do since Serena Williams was in her prime”.

Iga Swiatek dominates Coco Gauff, takes second French Open title

Iga Swiatek continued her destruction of the women's tennis field this year, routing American Coco Gauff 6-1, 6-3 in a little more than an hour in the French Open women's final on Saturday.

The 21-year old Swiatek from Poland sprinted out to a 4-0 lead in the first set and continued her dominance from there, breaking Gauff, who was appearing in her first Grand Slam final, and her serve time and again with her powerful forehand, finishing the set in a swift 32 minutes.

In the second set, Gauff broke Swiatek in the first game, thanks to four unforced errors by Swiatek and held serve in the second. Swiatek evened it at 2, breaking Gauff for the fourth time, winning 10 of 11 points and turned it on from there.

Gauff had 23 unforced errors and three double faults, most coming off her forehand, which was wide at times, including on match point, which sent Swiatek to her knees in celebration after the victory.

Swiatek has won 35 straight matches, the longest this century, a run equaled by Venus Williams in 2000 and her victory broke a streak of six straight winners at Roland Garros who won their first Grand Slam title.

She has not lost since Feb. 16, when Jelena Ostapenko beat her in three sets in the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships quarterfinals.

Swiatek, who is 42-3 this year, gained the No. 1 ranking on April 4, a week after three-time Grand Slam winner Ashleigh Barty suddenly announced her retirement and has now won each of the last six tournaments she has entered.

Swiatek added to her trophy haul in Paris, having won her first Grand Slam title at Roland Garros in 2020, as the tournament was held in September due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Gauff, 18, has another chance to leave Paris a champion, as she vies for the women's doubles title with Jessica Pegula against Caroline Garcia and Kristina Mladenovic on Sunday.

French Open updates | Cornet beats former champion Ostapenko

AP

PARIS (AP) — The Latest on the French Open Grand Slam tennis tournament (all times local):

11 p.m.

Alizé Cornet beat 2017 champion Jelena Ostapenko 6-0, 1-6, 6-3 to advance to the third round at the French Open.

The 32-year-old French player had plenty of support under the lights at Court Philippe Chatrier in the final match of the day.

Ostapenko made 48 unforced errors to Cornet's five. The Latvian beat Simona Halep for the Roland Garros title five years ago.

The veteran Cornet reached her first Grand Slam quarterfinal this year at the Australian Open.

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9:55 p.m.

Stefanos Tsitsipas advanced to the third round after another slugfest for the No. 4 seed at Roland Garros.

The 2021 French Open runner-up defeated Czech qualifier Zdenek Kolar 6-3, 7-6 (8), 6-7 (3), 7-6 (7) at Court Suzanne Lenglen.

The 134th-ranked Kolar had four set points but couldn't force a fifth set as Tsitsipas fought back to even the last tiebreaker at 6-6 before closing out the match just past the 4-hour mark.

Tsitsipas went past midnight in his marathon five-set win over Lorenzo Musetti in the first round, a year after blowing a two-set lead in the final against Novak Djokovic.

No. 11 Jannik Sinner advanced by beating Roberto Carballes Baena 3-6, 6-4, 6-4, 6-3.

This is the first time since 2009 that the top 12 men's seeds at Roland Garros all reached the third round.

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7:05 p.m.

Aryna Sabalenka needed just 62 minutes to beat Madison Brengle 6-1, 6-3 and advance to the third round at Roland Garros for the third straight year.

No. 7 Sabalenka is one of just three top-10 women's seeds remaining. No. 1 Iga Swiatek and No. 3 Paula Badosa are the others.

The 24-year-old Belarusian reached the semifinals of both Wimbledon and the U.S. Open last year.

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6:45 p.m.

Australian Open runner-up Danielle Collins is the latest top-10 women's seed to exit the French Open.

In a battle of Americans, Shelby Rogers upset 9th-seeded Collins 6-4, 6-3 to reach the third round at Roland Garros for the first time since 2017.

Collins is the seventh top-10 seed to lose.

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6:10 p.m.

Two-time Grand Slam champion Simona Halep is out of the French Open in the second round.

Chinese teenager Qinwen Zheng pulled off the 2-6, 6-2, 6-1 upset of the 2018 Roland Garros champion at Court Simonne-Mathieu.

The 74th-ranked Zheng amassed 27 winners to Halep's nine to earn a trip to the third round on her French Open debut.

The 19th-seeded Halep was looking for her 21st win of the season. The 2019 Wimbledon champion had beaten Zheng in Melbourne in January.

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5:20 p.m.

Make that 30 in a row for Iga Swiatek.

The top-ranked Swiatek routed Alison Riske 6-0, 6-2 to reach the third round of the French Open.

It's the longest winning streak in women’s tennis since Serena Williams won 34 in a row in 2013.

The 2020 French Open champion compiled a 23-6 edge in winners over her 43rd-ranked American opponent.

The 20-year-old Polish player hasn't lost in more than three months.

On the men's side, 12th-seeded Hubert Hurkacz beat Marco Cecchinato 6-1, 6-4, 6-2 to reach the third round.

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4:45 p.m.

Madison Keys advanced to the third round at Roland Garros after beating Caroline Garcia 6-4, 7-6 (3).

The 2017 U.S. Open runner-up relied on her dominant serve to get past her French opponent on Court Philippe Chatrier.

The 22nd-seeded American will next face 16th-seeded Elena Rybakina, the only woman with more aces than Keys this season.

Keys at one point got her necklace stuck in her hair so chair umpire Jaume Campistol helped her untangle it.

Keys is making her 10th appearance at the French Open and reached the semifinals four years ago.

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4:10 p.m.

No. 8 Casper Ruud has reached the third round of the French Open for the third year in a row.

The 23-year-old Norwegian beat Emil Ruusuvuori of Finland 6-3, 6-4, 6-2.

Ruud won the Geneva Open last Saturday for his seventh career title on clay courts.

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3 p.m.

Daniil Medvedev keeps getting more comfortable on red clay and his 6-3, 6-4, 6-3 victory over Laslo Djere means the U.S. Open champion now has made it to the third round at Roland Garros two years in a row.

Medvedev started his French Open career with an 0-4 record by losing his opening matches in 2017, 2018, 2019 and 2020.

He snapped that skid by getting to the quarterfinals in 2021 and has won all six sets he has played so far this week and dropped a total of only 16 games.

The second-seeded Russian will play No. 28 Miomir Kecmanovic of Serbia for a berth in the fourth round.

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1:40 p.m.

No. 3 Paula Badosa has become the first woman seeded in the top 10 to reach the third round at Roland Garros this year.

Badosa went down a break to open the third set of her match against 68th-ranked Kaja Juvan before regrouping to grab four games in a row and was on her way to a 7-5, 3-6, 6-2 victory at Court Suzanne Lenglen that took more than two hours.

Badosa’s best showing at a Grand Slam tournament was a quarterfinal appearance at the 2021 French Open.

She will face No. 29 Veronika Kudermetova next.

All five of the women seeded in the top 10 and placed on the bottom half of the draw are already out of the field. Badosa is in the top half, where No. 8 Karolina Pliskova lost earlier Thursday.

No. 1 Iga Swiatek, No. 7 Aryna Sabalenka and No. 9 Danielle Collins play later.

The woman seeded 11th, American Jessica Pegula, reached the third round by beating Anhelina Kalinina 6-1, 5-7, 6-4.

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12:35 p.m.

Two-time major finalist Karolina Pliskova has lost in the second round at Roland Garros to a French wild-card entry making her debut in any Grand Slam tournament.

The 227th-ranked Leolia Jeanjean’s 6-2, 6-2 victory over the eighth-seeded Pliskova means that six of the top 10 women in the seedings at the French Open already are gone before the second round is completed.

Pliskova joins No. 2 Barbora Krejcikova, No. 4 Maria Sakkari, No. 5 Anett Kontaveit, No. 6 Ons Jabeur and No. 10 Garbiñe Muguruza on the way out.

The remaining four women in the top 10 are scheduled to play Thursday: No. 1 Iga Swiatek, No. 3 Paula Badosa, No. 7 Aryna Sabalenka and No. 9 Danielle Collins.

Pliskova has been ranked No. 1 and was the runner-up at Wimbledon last year and the U.S. Open in 2016. She also has reached the semifinals at the other two major tournaments. That includes at the French Open in 2017.

Jeanjean is a 26-year-old from Montpellier. She trailed 2-1 at the start Thursday before winning nine consecutive games to take the opening set and grab a 4-0 lead in the second.

Pliskova made 28 unforced errors and was broken in half of her eight service games.

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11 a..m.

Iga Swiatek is ranked No. 1 and seeded No. 1 at the French Open and she is putting her 29-match winning streak on the line in the second round on Day 5 of the clay-court Grand Slam tournament.

Swiatek's run is the longest in women's tennis since Serena Williams won 34 in a row in 2013.

The 20-year-old Polish player faces 43rd-ranked Alison Riske of the United States on Thursday.

Other women in action as the second round concludes include No. 3 seed Paula Badosa, two-time major champion Simona Halep and two-time major finalist Karolina Pliskova.

Reigning U.S. Open champion Daniil Medvedev and 2021 French Open runner-up Stefanos Tsitsipas are the top men on Thursday's schedule on a cloudy, chilly day in Paris.

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Just 19, ranked 54th, Swiatek wins French Open for 1st Slam

AP

PARIS (AP) — Minutes after suddenly becoming a Grand Slam champion at age 19, while ranked just 54th, Iga Swiatek held a microphone during the French Open trophy presentation and was hesitant for pretty much the only time over the past two weeks.

“First of all, I'm not very good at speeches,” Swiatek began, haltingly, “so, sorry, because I won my last tournament like two years ago, and I really don't know who to thank.”

When she's got a racket in her hand, it's a whole different story. With the poise of a veteran and the shots of a champion, Swiatek wrapped up a dominating run at Roland Garros, grabbing the last six games to beat Sofia Kenin 6-4, 6-1 in Saturday's final.

“Two years ago, I won a junior Grand Slam, and right now I’m here. It feels like such a short time,” Swiatek said, her voice cracking. “I’m just overwhelmed.”

Swiatek (pronounced shvee-ON'-tek) is the first Polish tennis player to win a major singles trophy and said, “I know it’s pretty crazy back home” — where one newspaper's front page was splashed with the headline “Poland Garros” ahead of the final.

When she smacked one last heavy-topspin forehand winner to claim her first tour-level title of any sort, Swiatek placed her right hand over her mouth and crouched, shaking her head.

Hard to believe? Maybe. This was, after all, only her seventh major tournament; she'd never been past the fourth round.

“It’s, like, a life-changing experience,” Swiatek said. “Yeah, I just feel like I kind of made history."

The way she played these two weeks — with those great groundstrokes, the occasional drop shot, terrific returning and impressive court coverage — made this outcome less of a surprise.

Kenin said Swiatek's “spinny forehand up the line" bounces high enough to make things difficult for opponents.

Swiatek lost 28 games across seven matches and is the first woman to triumph in Paris without ceding a set since Justine Henin in 2007. She's the first teen to win the women's title there since Iva Majoli in 1997.

“She’s, like, really hot right now,” said Kenin, who was hampered by an injury to her upper left leg, an issue that first cropped up during a practice session last weekend.

Swiatek beat both 2018 champion Simona Halep and 2019 runner-up Marketa Vondrousova 6-1, 6-2.

So it made sense that Swiatek would handle the fourth-seeded Kenin, even if the 21-year-old from Florida won the Australian Open in February and entered Saturday 16-1 in Grand Slam play this year.

She had yet to face the composed Swiatek, who only recently completed her high school studies and listens to “Welcome to the Jungle” by Guns N' Roses through her black headphones before walking on court.

Swiatek travels with a sports psychologist and meditates during changeovers, breathing slowly with her eyes closed.

That helped her deal with the stage and the stakes.

“Everybody is stressed when they’re playing Grand Slam finals. I just knew that Sofia may also be stressed, that she’s not a machine. I was aware that we can both, like, struggle, and we’re probably not going to play our best tennis, because it’s hard with so much pressure,” Swiatek said. "But I just did everything I’ve done in the previous rounds. I focused on technique and tactics. I tried to get rid of expectations, you know — just play one ball after another."

This weekend is the culmination of an unusual two weeks, to say the least. The tournament was postponed form May-June to September-October because of the coronavirus pandemic; the recently rising number of COVID-19 cases in France led the government to limit the number of spectators allowed on the grounds to 1,000 each day.

Some top women, including 2019 major champions Ash Barty, Naomi Osaka and Bianca Andreescu, didn’t enter the event at all; 23-time Slam winner Serena Williams withdrew before the second round with an injury.

The temperature was in the mid-50s (low teens Celsius), with a slight breeze, and the hundreds of fans scattered in Court Philippe Chatrier were mostly subdued — other than a group shouting Swiatek’s first name, stretching it out to sound like “Eeeeeeeeeee-gah.”

She took 12 of the first 15 points, thanks to four winners and zero unforced errors.

“I guess it was nerves or something,” said Kenin, who occasionally dropped or kicked her red-white-and-blue racket. “But I found my groove.”

Soon enough, it was 3-all.

But Swiatek is nothing if not resilient. She served for the set at 5-3, and got broken, but responded right away by stealing yet another one of Kenin's service games.

Same thing happened to begin the second set: Kenin broke for a 1-0 edge, and Swiatek broke right back.

At the changeover at 2-1, Kenin left the court for a medical timeout, then returned with her left thigh wrapped. While Kenin was gone, Swiatek stayed warm by pulling on a white jacket and hitting some serves.

When play resumed, Swiatek needed 12 minutes to close it out, finishing with a 25-10 edge in winners.

All that remained was to hear the Polish anthem — never before played after a major singles final — and kiss her shiny trophy.

After addressing the crowd for a bit, Swiatek asked, “Should I say something else?”

The emcee responded that she could if she wanted.

“I have no idea,” Swiatek said. “Sorry.”

Better practice up, Iga. The tennis world expects to see you at more such ceremonies in the future.

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AP Tennis Writer Fendrich reported from Washington; AP Sports Writer Pugmire reported from Paris.

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French Open lookahead: Nadal seeks 22nd major, Ruud his 1st

AP

PARIS (AP) — LOOKAHEAD TO SUNDAY

Rafael Nadal and Casper Ruud will play each other in the French Open men's final. Nadal seeks his 14th title at Roland Garros and 22nd Grand Slam trophy overall. Both would add to records he already owns. At 36, Nadal would be the oldest champion in French Open history. Ruud is 23 and appearing in his first major final, the first man from Norway to get that far in singles at any Grand Slam tournament. The two have never met in an official match but have played many practice sets against each other at Nadal's tennis academy in Mallorca because Ruud has been training there for a few years. Ruud considers Nadal his idol and recalls watching the Spaniard's past French Open finals on TV.

SUNDAY'S FORECAST

Chance of rain. High of 75 degrees Fahrenheit (24 Celsius).

SATURDAY'S RESULTS

Women’s Singles Final: No. 1 Iga Swiatek beat No. 18 Coco Gauff 6-1, 6-3.

Men's Doubles Final: Marcelo Arevalo and Jean-Julien Rojer beat Ivan Dodig and Austin Krajicek 6-7 (4), 7-6 (5), 6-3.

STAT OF THE DAY

35 — Consecutive victories for Iga Swiatek, surpassing Serena Williams' best unbeaten run of 34 and equaling Venus Williams for the longest this century.

QUOTE OF THE DAY

“The best thing I can learn from him is how he’s cool about what’s going on around him. Because sometimes in our heads, I think many players are overanalyzing everything. We treat those finals as something that ... if we are going to lose, suddenly our life is bad. I feel like all these great champions, they kind of accept that they may lose.” — Iga Swiatek, two-time French Open champion, discussing what she can learn from Rafael Nadal, who will try to win his 14th title at Roland Garros on Sunday.

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French Open updates | Arevalo, Rojer win men's doubles title

AP

PARIS (AP) — The Latest on the French Open Grand Slam tennis tournament (all times local):

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8:30 p.m.

Marcelo Arevalo of El Salvador and Jean-Julien Rojer of Netherlands won the French Open men's doubles championship by beating Ivan Dodig of Croatia and Austin Krajicek of the U.S. 6-7 (4), 7-6 (5), 6-3 in the final.

The 40-year-old Rojer is the oldest Grand Slam men's doubles champion in the Open era. He won the 2017 U.S. Open title with Horia Tecau.

According to the International Tennis Federation, Arevalo is the first man from Central America to win a Grand Slam title.

Arevalo and Rojer were seeded 12th. Dodig and Krajicek were not seeded.

Dodig and Krajicek held three championship points at 6-5 in the second set but were unable to convert any.

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5:30 p.m.

Lucie Havlickova and Gabriel Debru have won the French Open junior singles titles.

The 17-year-old Havlickova is the second Czech player in a row to be the female junior champion at Roland Garros. She beat Solana Sierra of Argentina 6-3, 6-3 on Saturday.

The 16-year-old Debru, who is French, defeated Gilles Arnaud Bailly of Belgium 7-6 (5), 6-3 for the boys' title.

Debru joins 2021 winner Luca van Assche to give the host country consecutive French Open boys’ singles champions for the first time since 1974-75.

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4:20

Top-ranked Iga Swiatek has beaten 18-year-old American Coco Gauff 6-1, 6-3 in the French Open final to collect her second title at Roland Garros and stretch her winning streak to 35 matches.

Swiatek’s unbeaten run equals one by Venus Williams in 2000 as the longest this century.

Swiatek's victory over Gauff on Saturday allowed her to add to the 2020 trophy she won in Paris. That made her the first player from Poland to win a Grand Slam singles title.

Swiatek has now won her past six tournaments and is 42-3 this season.

Swiatek’s last loss came in February to 2017 Roland Garros champion Jelena Ostapenko.

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3:45 p.m.

Iga Swiatek has taken the opening set of the French Open women's final against Coco Gauff by a 6-1 score.

Swiatek raced to a 4-0 lead as Gauff had trouble getting her shots to land where she wanted them.

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3:10 p.m.

The French Open women's final between No. 1 Iga Swiatek and 18-year-old American Coco Gauff has started under a partly cloudy sky with a temperature of 82 degrees Fahrenheit (28 Celsius).

Swiatek enters Saturday on a 34-match winning streak as she seeks her second title at Roland Garros. She won the tournament in 2020.

Gauff is appearing in a Grand Slam final for the first time.

The chair umpire is Damien Dumusois.

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1 p.m.

Coco Gauff is getting ready to face Iga Swiatek in the French Open women's singles final.

Gauff is an 18-year-old from Florida who is ranked No. 23 and participating in her first Grand Slam title match.

Swiatek is a 21-year-old from Poland who is ranked No. 1. She won the 2020 French Open and enters Saturday on a 34-match winning streak.

That is the longest in women's tennis since a 35-match run by Venus Williams in 2000.

Gauff and Swiatek have played each other twice before. Both matches were won by Swiatek in straight sets — last year on clay in Rome and this year on a hard court in Miami.

Gauff can extend a recent trend at Roland Garros: The past six women's title winners at the clay-court tournament were first-time Grand Slam champions.

The final is scheduled to begin at 3 p.m. local time.

The men's singles final is Sunday, with 13-time champion Rafael Nadal playing 23-year-old Casper Ruud of Norway.

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Iga Swiatek, 19, knocks off American Sofia Kenin for French Open title

Associated Press

PARIS (AP) — Minutes after suddenly becoming a Grand Slam champion at age 19, while ranked just 54th, Iga Swiatek held a microphone during the French Open trophy ceremony and was hesitant for pretty much the only time over the past two weeks.

“First of all, I'm not very good at speeches,” Swiatek began, haltingly, “so, sorry, because I won my last tournament like two years ago, and I really don't know who to thank.”

When she's got a racket in her hand, it's a whole different story. With the poise of a veteran and the shots of a champion, Swiatek wrapped up a dominating run at Roland Garros, grabbing the last six games to beat Sofia Kenin 6-4, 6-1 in Saturday's final.

“Two years ago, I won a junior Grand Slam, and right now I’m here. It feels like such a short time,” Swiatek said, her voice cracking. “I’m just overwhelmed.”

Swiatek (pronounced shvee-ON'-tek) is the first Polish tennis player to win a major singles trophy and said, “I know it’s pretty crazy back home” — where one newspaper's front page was splashed with the headline “Poland Garros” ahead of the final.

When she smacked one last forehand winner to the corner to end things, Swiatek placed her right hand over her mouth then crouched, shaking her head.

Hard to believe? Maybe. This was, after all, only her seventh major tournament; she'd never been past the fourth round at one.

But the way she played these two weeks — with powerful groundstrokes sent to corners, the occasional drop shot, terrific returning and impressive court coverage — made this outcome less of a surprise.

Swiatek lost only 28 games across seven matches and is the first woman to triumph in Paris without ceding a set since Justine Henin in 2007. She also is the first teen to win the women's title there since Iva Majoli in 1997.

And Swiatek did it with victories over such opponents as 2018 champion Simona Halep and 2019 runner-up Marketa Vondrousova, both by scores of 6-1, 6-2.

So it made sense that Swiatek would be able to get past the fourth-seeded Kenin, even if the 21-year-old American was trying to claim her second major title of 2020 after winning the Australian Open.

“A great tournament," Kenin told Swiatek. "A great match.”

Kenin was 16-1 in Grand Slam matches this year. But she dealt with a leg issue in the second set and showed frustration by kicking her red-white-and-blue racket after lost points.

And then there was this: She ran into the composed Swiatek, who only recently completed her high school studies and listens to “Welcome to the Jungle” by Guns N' Roses before walking on court.

“I was just mentally consistent,” said Swiatek, who travels with a sports psychologist and meditates during changeovers, breathing slowly with her eyes closed. “I felt like today was really stressful for me, so it was kind of hard.”

This weekend is the culmination of an unusual two weeks, to say the least. The tournament was postponed form May-June to September-October because of the coronavirus pandemic; the recently rising number of COVID-19 cases in France led the government to limit the number of spectators allowed on the grounds to 1,000 each day.

Some top women, including 2019 champion Ash Barty and three-time major champ Naomi Osaka didn’t enter the event; 23-time Slam winner Serena Williams withdrew before the second round with an injury.

The temperature was in the mid-50s (low teens Celsius), with a slight breeze, and the hundreds of fans scattered in Court Philippe Chatrier were mostly subdued — other than a group that would shout Swiatek’s first name, stretching it out over several seconds each time to sound like “Eeeeeeeeeee-gah.”

Swiatek began with a 3-0 run, taking 12 of the first 15 points, delivering four winners and zero unforced errors.

No one expected Kenin — self-described as “feisty” — to go quietly. She got on the board with a hold, then broke when Swiatek double-faulted, the first sign that the magnitude of the moment might be hitting her. Soon enough, it was 3-all.

But Swiatek is nothing if not resilient. She served for the set at 5-3, and got broken, but responded right away by stealing yet another one of Kenin's service games.

Same thing happened to begin the second set: Kenin broke for a 1-0 edge, and Swiatek broke right back. She wouldn't lose another game on her way to her first tour-level title.

At the changeover at 2-1, Kenin left the court for a medical timeout, then returned with her left thigh wrapped.

While Kenin was gone, Swiatek stayed warm by pulling on a white jacket and hitting some serves, earning applause from spectators.

When play resumed, Swiatek needed only 12 more minutes to wrap up the victory, finishing with a 25-10 edge in winners.

All that was left was to hear the Polish anthem — never before played after a major singles final — ring out in the stadium, check out her shiny trophy and go through the speeches and interviews.

After speaking for a bit, Swiatek asked, “Should I say something else?”

She was told by the emcee that she could if she wanted.

“I have no idea,” Swiatek said. “Sorry.”

Better practice up, Iga. The tennis world expects to see more such speeches in the future.

The Latest: Australian champ Kenin cries after French loss

AP

PARIS (AP) — The Latest from the French Open (all times local):

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7:30 p.m.

Sofia Kenin found out what it feels like to win a Grand Slam final at the Australian Open in February. Now she knows how it feels to lose one.

While French Open champion Iga Swiatek was doing a TV interview right after Saturday’s title match, Kenin said, “I was just sitting on the bench and crying. Obviously I had a lot of emotions. I tried my best to not cry in the speech and everything.”

Kenin, a 21-year-old who lives in Florida, went a tour-best 16-2 in Grand Slam play in 2020, with a fourth-round showing at the U.S. Open in addition to getting to the last matches at Melbourne Park and Roland Garros.

But she was hampered by her upper left leg during her 6-4, 6-1 loss to 19-year-old Swiatek.

Kenin initially hurt herself during practice last weekend and the leg acted up again Saturday.

“After the first set, I just felt it was so tight, I couldn’t move,” Kenin said.

She left the court for a medical timeout to get the leg wrapped while trailing 2-1 in the second set and wouldn't win another game.

“I wish I would have held that beautiful trophy,” she said afterward. “Yeah, it’s not easy standing (there) when you were so close to win the title and you lost it.”

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7:10 p.m.

Andreas Mies and Kevin Krawietz succewssfully defended their French Open doubles title by beating U.S. Open champions Mate Pavic of Croatia and Bruno Soares of Brazil 6-3, 7-5.

The eighth-seeded German pair won on their second match point when Soares scooped a forehand into the net.

Krawietz’s forehand winner put the Germans up 6-5 and a break against the No. 7 seeds.

With Mies serving for the match, the duo missed one match point and saved two break points before closing out the win on Court Philippe Chatrier.

Mies fell onto his back and Krawietz sank to his knees in celebration.

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6:10 p.m.

No. 1 seed Dylan Alcott of Australia beat No. 2 Andy Lapthorne of Britain 6-2, 6-2 to win the French Open men’s quad wheelchair title for the second time.

Alcott broke Lapthorne’s serve six times on the way to his 11th major title.

But another meeting between the top two seeds was much closer.

No. 1-seeded Dutch pair Diede de Groot and Aniek van Koot beat No. 2s Yui Kamiji of Japan and Jordanne Whiley of Britain 7-6 (2), 3-6, 10-8 on their third match point to win the women’s wheelchair doubles title for the third straight year.

Kamiji won her fourth French Open title in the wheelchair singles on Friday.

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5:40 p.m.

Dominic Stephan Stricker won the boys’ doubles title to clinch a French Open double after earlier winning the singles.

He teamed with Flavio Cobolli of Italy and the third-seeded pair won against eighth-seeded Bruno Oliveria and Natan Rodrigues of Brazil 6-2, 6-4.

The 18-year-old left-handed Stricker is the first Swiss player to win a boys’ singles major title since 2003 when Stan Wawrinka prevailed at Roland Garros.

There was another success for Italy as Eleonora Alvisi and Lisa Pigato won the girls' doubles.

The unseeded pair beat fifth-seeded Russians Maria Bondarenko and Diana Shnaider 7-6 (3), 6-4.

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5 p.m.

Teen Iga Swiatek has become the first Polish player to win a Grand Slam title after beating fourth-seeded Sofia Kenin 6-4, 6-1 in the French Open final.

The 19-year-old Swiatek did so without dropping a set.

Kenin was looking to win her second major title of the year after winning the Australian Open. She left the court for a few minutes to take a medical timeout at 2-1 down and came back with her left thigh heavily strapped.

Swiatek broke her for a 3-1 lead and secured a love hold for 4-1.

She won on her first match point with a forehand winner down the left of court which flew past Kenin.

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4 p.m.

Polish teen Iga Swiatek won the first set 6-4 against fourth-seeded Sofia Kenin in the French Open final.

The 19-year-old Swiatek raced into a 3-0 lead in sunny but somewhat chilly conditions on Court Philippe Chatrier before Kenin rallied back for 3-3.

Both are in the final at Roland Garros for the first time.

Kenin is looking to win her second major title of the year after winning the Australian Open.

Swiatek is bidding to become the first Polish player to win a Grand Slam title.

One of her drop shots in the seventh game was so good that Kenin turned her back and didn't even bother chasing it.

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3:15 p.m.

The women’s French Open final between fourth-seeded American Sofia Kenin and unseeded teen Iga Swiatek has begun on Court Philippe Chatrier.

Kenin is looking to win her second major title of the year after winning the Australian Open.

The 19-year-old Swiatek is bidding to become the first Polish player to win a Grand Slam title.

The 54th-ranked Swiatek is the second lowest-ranked woman to reach the final in Paris since the WTA rankings were introduced in 1975.

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3 p.m.

Third-seeded Elsa Jacquemot beat Alina Charaeva 4-6, 6-4, 6-2 to win the girls’ title at the French Open.

The 17-year-old Jacquemot is the first French girl to win a junior title since Kristina Mladenovic also won at Roland Garros in 2009.

Jacquemot sealed victory on her first match point after a double fault from the unseeded Russian.

“To win Roland Garros as a French player is something crazy. I don't have the words,” Jacquemot said.

Charaeva's voice cracked with emotion when she spoke after the match.

“I hope next year I can come back as a professional," she said.

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2 p.m.

Britain's Alfie Hewett beat Joachim Gerard of Belgium 6-4, 4-6, 6-3 to win the French Open wheelchair title for the second time.

The 22-year-old Hewett now has four major titles after twice winning the U.S. Open.

“I'd like to say congratulations to Jo and your team. I know it wasn’t to be today but congrats. It was a tough final," Hewett said after winning in 2 hours, 36 minutes on Court Suzanne Lenglen. “I hope to get a good pizza tonight to celebrate ... I think me and my left shoulder are ready for a break."

The top-ranked Hewett has reached the semifinals at both the Australian Open and Wimbledon.

The 31-year-old Gerard was playing in his second major final after losing in the Australian Open final four years ago.

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1:30 p.m.

Dominic Stephan Stricker beat Leandro Riedi in an all-Swiss final to win the boys’ title at the French Open.

He is the first Swiss player to win a boys' title at any major tournament since three-time Grand Slam champion Stan Wawrinka at Roland Garros in 2003.

The seventh-seeded Stricker broke No. 8 seed Riedi's serve five times.

The 18-year-old left hander is on line for a double triumph.

He is playing the boys’ doubles final alongside Flavio Cobolli of Italy later Saturday.

They are seeded third against eighth-seeded Bruno Oliveria and Natan Rodrigues of Brazil.

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More AP tennis: https://apnews.com/apf-Tennis and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports

Naomi Osaka gets rematch as she returns to French Open

AP

PARIS (AP) — Naomi Osaka will not have the luxury of easing into her return to the courts of the French Open, facing a tough foe in her very first match.

Week 2 at Roland Garros, meanwhile, could be quite fascinating for Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal and Carlos Alcaraz — the three leading favorites for the men's title ended up on the same side of the bracket for the clay-court Grand Slam tournament, meaning only one can reach the final.

Thursday’s draw at Roland Garros also set up two tantalizing possibilities in the fourth round for No. 1-ranked Iga Swiatek, the 2020 champion who is currently on a 28-match winning streak. She might need to go up against 2018 champion Simona Halep at that stage or 2017 champion Jelena Ostapenko — who just so happens to be the last woman to defeat Swiatek.

The tournament begins Sunday.

Osaka is a four-time Grand Slam champion who used to be No. 1 in the rankings but has slipped to No. 38 in part because of a lack of activity. That included time off for a mental health break after she withdrew from Roland Garros ahead of her second-round match last year, revealing that she has dealt with anxiety and depression.

Because she is not seeded at the French Open, she was not safe from facing a seeded opponent right away, so that’s what will happen against No. 27 Amanda Anisimova, a 20-year-old American who was a 2019 semifinalist in Paris.

Anisimova won their third-round encounter at the Australian Open in January by a score of 4-6, 6-3, 7-6 (5). Osaka was the defending champion at Melbourne Park.

The possible women’s quarterfinals in Paris are Swiatek against two-time major runner-up Karolina Pliskova, and No. 3 seed Paula Badosa against No. 7 Aryna Sabalenka on the top half of the field, and defending champion Barbora Krejcikova against No. 5 Anett Kontaveit, and No. 4 Maria Sakkari against No. 6 Ons Jabeur on the bottom half.

Last year, in her first time in the main draw of singles at the French Open, Krejcikova won both that trophy — the player she beat in the final, Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, announced this week her season is done because of an injured knee — along with women's doubles.

So it makes sense that Krejcikova used phrases such as “extremely amazing” and “something incredible" while discussing what happened in 2021 during a brief appearance at the draw ceremony and noted with a smile: “This clay suits me.”

Nadal, he of the 13 titles on the red stuff in Paris, and Djokovic, a two-time champion, could say the same, of course.

Djokovic, who is the defending champion and seeded No. 1, could meet Nadal in the quarterfinals. A year ago, Djokovic beat Nadal in the semifinals, before erasing a two-set deficit against Stefanos Tsitsipas to win the final.

“I am very motivated to play my best tennis,” Djokovic said in French on Thursday, as he marked his chance to get back on the Grand Slam stage after missing the Australian Open because he is not vaccinated against COVID-19 (the French Open has no such requirement).

“Last year in Paris was the perfect result. Roland Garros was maybe the hardest of my career — of all the Grand Slams I have won,” he said. “Very emotional, tiring, but at the end, the result arrived.”

Nadal leads the Grand Slam title standings among men with 21, one ahead of Djokovic and Roger Federer.

If the Djokovic-Nadal showdown happens, the winner could face No. 6 seed Alcaraz in the semifinals. Alcaraz is just 19, recently won the Madrid Open on clay and became the youngest man to break into the top 10 in the rankings since Nadal in 2005.

Alcaraz could meet No. 3 seed Alexander Zverev in quarterfinals.

The potential quarterfinals on the other half of the bracket are No. 2 Daniil Medvedev against No. 7 Andrey Rublev — two Russians who will not be allowed to compete at Wimbledon because of that country's invasion of Ukraine — and No. 4 Tsitsipas against No. 8 Casper Ruud.

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More AP sports: https://apnews.com/hub/sports and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports


The pros and cons of Right to Buy | The Week UK

Boris Johnson is planning to revive the Thatcher-era Right to Buy scheme that will give people the chance to buy the properties they rent from housing associations at a discounted price.

The idea is designed to help “generation rent” get on the property ladder, as well as “prove the government is still committed to its Conservative principles” as Johnson faces an increasingly unhappy parliamentary party following Monday’s confidence vote, reported The Guardian.

The prime minister is expected to give more details about the policy in a speech in Lancashire today.

Introduced in 1980, the first iteration of the Right to Buy scheme was one of the flagship policies of Margaret Thatcher’s government. It allowed council house tenants to buy the homes they lived in and forced local authorities to sell their properties on request at a discount.

Under the policy as it stands today, council tenants can get up to 70% off the market price, depending on how long they have lived there – but the scheme is much more restrictive when it comes to housing associations.

Right to Buy has proved to be a controversial policy in the intervening years, leading some to wonder if it should be revived.

Pro: more on the housing ladder Between 1980 and 2021, 1.8 million households in England purchased a home from their local authority using the Right to Buy scheme. The Telegraph said it “achieved its goal of getting more people on the housing ladder in its former years” but its “popularity has waned since”. The BBC estimated that 2.4 million people rent from housing associations, so would now be eligible for the scheme. It added that Johnson will also “suggest allowing housing benefit to count towards a mortgage”. However, some experts have warned that it ignores the needs of private tenants.

Con: fewer affordable homes Housing experts have warned the policy could significantly reduce the number of affordable homes available to renters amid a cost-of-living crisis, and have instead called for an increase in house building. Polly Neate, chief executive of Shelter, told The Guardian: “There could not be a worse time to sell off what remains of our last truly affordable social homes.” She added that “more people are on the brink of homelessness than homeownership”. Other experts have warned that the Thatcherite policy “left a trail of destruction in its wake” after the government failed to ensure houses that were being sold to tenants were replaced, leaving little housing stock left for those who relied on social housing, said The Telegraph. Since the launch of Right to Buy, “just 358,350 new local authority properties were built – a replacement rate of less than 20%”. The government is expected to mitigate this when it launches the scheme.

Pro: historically popular policy For Thatcher, the policy was a “resounding success”, transforming her political fortunes and becoming one of the most popular policies of the era, according to the Daily Mail. It said that in the first year alone, the government received up to 1,000 applications to buy each day. In the first two years of the scheme, more than 107,000 properties were sold to council tenants. Michael Heseltine, who as environment secretary was in charge of turning the policy into law, said at the time that “no single piece of legislation has enabled the transfer of so much capital wealth from the state to the people”. Even now, the idea of home ownership is a popular one, with 62% of Britons without property saying they would like to own their own home in the future, according to a YouGov poll last year. When Labour came to power in 1997, it reduced the discount available to tenants in local authorities, which put severe pressure on their housing stock, including almost the whole of London. But, as the Daily Mail noted: “Tony Blair’s government never actually attempted to abolish Right to Buy – perhaps wary of the huge backlash that could result.”

Con: lack of good rental stock Critics have said that many of the “decent” housing association properties have already been sold off, leaving current housing association tenants with few tempting options if they were seeking to buy, said The Guardian. Toby Lloyd, a housing consultant and former special adviser, told The Telegraph that the new policy could also prove “extraordinarily expensive” for the government. “The Conservative party has been promising to extend Right to Buy to housing associations for years, but the reason it has not been successful is because it is much harder,” he said. “The whole point of housing associations is they are independent charities and not part of the state, and so the Government cannot just help itself to their assets. It will be extraordinarily expensive to persuade them to sell houses off.”

Pro: prevents social exclusion One argument for proponents of Right to Buy is that it helps create communities of different social classes, and in neighbourhoods where Right to Buy has been taken up it is argued that “the presence of economically active households reduces the social exclusion of an area”. It is also argued that people with a financial stake in their neighbourhood and property have “more incentive to look after it and the neighbourhood around it”, said The Guardian.

Ten Things You Need to Know Today: 2 May 2022 | The Week UK

Falklands conflict an ‘open wound’

The Falklands War is an “open wound” in Argentina, the country’s ambassador to the UK has said on the 40th anniversary of the war. Javier Figueroa compared the disagreement over the islands’ sovereignty to the relationship between North and South Korea. Speaking to the PA News agency, the ambassador explained that, despite the war ending four decades ago, in Argentina it remains a “deeply emotional issue”. Meanwhile, he added, most young people in the UK do not know “Britain has a beef with Argentina regarding the South Atlantic”.

The pros and cons of compulsory vaccination | The Week UK

Ministers are meeting today to decide whether or not to scrap plans to mandate Covid vaccinations for frontline NHS staff, with the deadline for health workers to have their first jab just days away.

Unless they have a medical exemption, patient-facing health and care workers in England “risk being redeployed or losing their jobs altogether” if they have not had two doses of the vaccine by April, reported Nursing Times.

With the final date for the first dose on 3 February, nursing leaders and unions have urged the government to delay the policy “amid concerns of the impact it will have on the workforce”, said the magazine.

Last week, Health Secretary Sajid Javid said the principle of patient safety remains “unchanged” but revealed that the government is “reflecting” on its policy of compulsory Covid vaccination for NHS staff now that the Omicron variant has taken hold in the country.

“No jab, no job” rules have become commonplace in some parts of the world as countries fight Covid-19, said the i news site. Vaccine passports are also being used for international travel or for access to large events and public spaces in different nations.

Boris Johnson has previously acknowledged that there are “moral complexities, ethical problems that need to be addressed” around compulsory vaccination and certification. Here are just some of those key issues.

Pro: reducing risk of infection More than 11,600 people caught Covid in hospital and died after being admitted for a different reason, according to an exclusive report in The Telegraph last November. Jeremy Hunt, the Conservative chairman of the Health and Social Care Select Committee, said the “truly shocking” data “surely strengthens the case for mandatory vaccination for frontline healthcare staff”. An NHS spokesperson said staff had “rigorously” followed infection prevention guidance and blamed the infection rates in hospitals on the rates in the community. While vaccinated people can still spread Covid, a jab provides “some protection” against infection and transmission, according to the UK Health Security Agency. For some, this is not enough to justify enforced vaccination.

Con: unnecessary interference One of the biggest arguments against any form of compulsory inoculation is the idea that it represents government encroachment on personal freedoms. Human rights campaign group Liberty has urged the government to support people using education and wider access to vaccination rather than through “pressure and punishment”. Its director, Gracie Bradley, warned that a “coercive approach” will “damage trust between employers, patients and key workers”, while Liberal Democrat MP Tim Farron said mandatory shots were “utterly illiberal, utterly wrong and a challenge to our freedoms”.

Pro: protecting the vulnerable Sajid Javid has said compulsory vaccination for NHS frontline workers is imperative to “avoid preventable harm and protect patients in the NHS”. Announcing the policy in November last year, he told the House of Commons: “The weight of the data shows our vaccinations have kept people safe and they have saved lives. This is especially true for vulnerable people in health and care settings.” Care home workers and volunteers are already required to show proof of full vaccination against Covid-19 unless they have a medical exemption. Johnson has previously said the idea should not feel “alien”, pointing out that surgeons are expected to have a vaccination against hepatitis B. In the BMJ, Daniel Sokol, a medical ethicist and clinical negligence barrister, said that for healthcare workers refusing the vaccine would be “contrary to the ethics of their profession”.

Con: staff shortages Health bosses are “increasingly concerned about the risk of losing a large number of staff when the NHS is struggling with both the Omicron variant and backlogs”, reported The Times. The Royal College of GPs, the Royal College of Nursing and Royal College of Midwives have called for a delay in the deadline for NHS staff to be vaccinated. The newspaper estimated that nearly 80,000 NHS staff are yet to be vaccinated, 5.4% of the total. However, in the BMJ, Sokol argued that unvaccinated healthcare workers “can also cause indirect harm from staff absences and disruption to the health service caused by severe disease”.

Pro: a route to normality Vaccine passports have been touted as one way to revive sectors where it is harder to keep a social distance, such as travel and hospitality. Israel was one of the first countries to use a vaccine passport system. Its “Green Pass” permits fully vaccinated individuals to access indoor venues. Meanwhile, Emmanuel Macron’s decision in July to bring in a vaccine passport scheme in France was a “jaw-dropper”, Politico said. But it proved to be the “best moment” in the president’s handling of the coronavirus crisis – “maybe even of his tenure”, said public health consultant Martin Blachier. France, “one of the most vaccine-sceptical nations on earth”, became “one of the most vaccinated countries in the world” over the summer, said Wired. Similarly, since the consultation on the vaccine mandate for NHS staff last September, around 100,000 unvaccinated health staff have come forward for their jabs, said Nursing Times.

Con: the Omicron factor Last week Javid said that although the principle of patient safety remained “unchanged”, the NHS mandate was announced when Delta was the dominant variant. Now that the typically “less severe” Omicron variant accounts for “almost all cases” across the country, it is right that “we reflect on all this and keep all Covid policies properly under review”, Javid told MPs. Another argument related to Omicron is that two vaccines are now less effective than they were against Delta, although some argue that this is a reason to expand the NHS vaccine mandate to three doses.

Pro: conflict of freedoms Alberto Giubilini, an ethics researcher from the University of Oxford, suggested that there is a “conflict of freedoms” when it comes to mandatory vaccination. While people should be free to choose whether or not they receive medical intervention such as an inoculation, vulnerable people who are unable to have a jab should also have the freedom to live a normal life. “Which infringement of freedom is the largest burden and which one is justified? That’s what we should ask,” he wrote for The Conversation.

Does Boris Johnson's green agenda go far enough? | The Week UK

The message from climate scientists in last week’s landmark report was clear, said The Observer: humanity must wean itself off fossil fuels now. While every nation must play its part, there’s a particular onus on Britain. It was here, after all, that the Industrial Revolution began, and it is Britain that is hosting the UN’s critical climate summit, COP26, in November. Many nations at the event in Glasgow will be looking to the UK for leadership, but it will be in little position to offer it. The Government has not only failed to set out a clear strategy for achieving net-zero emissions in the near future; it’s also continuing to support measures that directly undermine that goal. This “list of incompatibilities” includes the recent closing of the Green Homes Grant insulation scheme; freezing fuel duty; encouraging airport expansion; and delaying the phasing out of gas boilers beyond the planned date of 2035.

Boris Johnson has committed to cutting the UK’s greenhouse gas emissions by 78% of 1990 levels by 2035, and achieving net zero by 2050, said Elliot Chappell on LabourList.org. But based on its current trajectory, the UK is, according to government advisers, on course to cut only a fifth of the emissions needed to meet the 2035 target. To make matters worse, the PM is also facing a backlash from “reactive elements” in his party over his green agenda, such as it is. Among those warning that it risks alienating voters is Bassetlaw MP Brendan Clarke-Smith, who described it as a “hard sell asking people to make sacrifices when the rest of the world, China/Russia etc, are carrying on as usual”.

The “awkward squad” are threatening to make trouble over net zero, said Peter Franklin on UnHerd, but Johnson has “more allies than enemies” in this battle. The climate agenda appeals to the southern voters the Tories risk losing to the Lib Dems and Greens, and to voters in the North and Midlands who want investment in clean energy to revive local economies. The PM must stick to his targets, said The Times. We’ve already seen how economies of scale can reduce the cost of green technologies: wind is now a cheaper source of electricity than coal; experts expect the price of new electric cars to fall below that of petrol and diesel vehicles as soon as 2025. The price of other green technologies such as hydrogen fuel cells, heat pumps and solar energy should likewise fall over time. The costs of net zero should in any case be kept in perspective. The Office for Budget Responsibility reckons that decarbonising our economy will cost us some £1.4trn over 30 years. “That is less than the Government has spent on the pandemic in 18 months.”

As Britain scraps free mass testing, Hong Kong will swab its entire ...

This is the weekly edition of CNN's coronavirus newsletter. Look out for your roundup every Wednesday. If you haven't subscribed yet, sign up here

(CNN) At the start of the pandemic, the World Health Organization (WHO) had one very clear message for countries around the world: "Test, test, test."

Two years later, the advice remains the same, but not all governments are listening to it.

This week, Britain's Prime Minister Boris Johnson hailed England's new "living with Covid" strategy, dropping its remaining pandemic restrictions despite the reality that tens of thousands of people are still testing positive each day — including, on Sunday, Queen Elizabeth II

The plans unveiled by Johnson, who says the next phase is all about "encouraging personal responsibility," include an end to England's free coronavirus testing scheme. At the program's peak, more than 2 million swabs per day were being carried out and logged in the United Kingdom — yielding arguably the most robust data set in the world.

The UK's move to axe free mass testing after March was met with backlash from public health experts, who fear it could have major consequences on global efforts to track Covid-19. The WHO's special envoy for Covid, David Nabarro, said on BBC radio over the weekend that he worried Britain's decision to drop all rules and adopt "a line that is against the public health consensus," could "create a bit of a domino effect around the world."

The dismantling of these surveillance systems would have a dire impact on our understanding of the virus as it continues to evolve and spread, WHO epidemiologist Maria Van Kerkhove said during an online question-and-answer sessio n on Tuesday. Though global infections have fallen about 20% this week, compared to the previous week, she warned that the decline "may not be real" due to reduced testing. "We are very concerned about a reduction in testing around the world. We need to continue to test for SARS-CoV-2. We cannot abandon our testing practices," Van Kerkhove added.

Still, some countries and regions are hanging on to testing as a major strand of their pandemic strategy.

A temporary Covid-19 testing site in Hong Kong.

Hong Kong's chief executive, Carrie Lam, announced a massive mandatory testing drive Tuesday as the territory grapples with its worst coronavirus outbreak yet, spurred by Omicron. The entire population — nearly 7.5 million people — will undergo three rounds of compulsory Covid-19 testing in March, and testing capacity is expected to increase to 1 million a day or more, according to Lam. Hong Kong has largely stayed in lockstep with mainland China's "zero-Covid-19" policy, which has meant that as other countries like Britain have shifted their approach to treating the virus as endemic, the city has been stuck in a never-ending cycle of lockdowns to quell outbreaks.

The extremely transmissible Omicron variant put a massive strain on testing programs around the world earlier this year, making rapid tests even more scarce. As cases surged, vaccinated and boosted people trying to ensure they were not positive before contact with vulnerable individuals or attending gatherings found themselves scrambling to find available test kits.

The United States poured billions into scaling up test manufacturing capacity, but still failed to avert a shortfall amid the Omicron spike. In a briefing by the White House Covid-19 response team last week, Dr. Tom Inglesby, senior adviser to the task force, said that the administration was seeking to address supply chain challenges and expand domestic testing capacity, to "be ready if we face a new variant or surge in the future." The US government said it has secured 1 billion tests, 200 million of which have already been shipped free of charge to Americans across the country.

"Testing will remain a critical part of our overall COVID response strategy. We're making investments now for whatever this virus brings in the time ahead," Inglesby said.

YOU ASKED. WE ANSWERED

Q: How can we keep kids safe as Covid-19 rules change? Our expert weighs in

A: After two years of pandemic restrictions, several states have announced they will end indoor mask mandates, including at some schools. Against this backdrop, the US Food and Drug Administration has said that it will delay authorization for the Covid-19 vaccine for children under 5.

That has left many parents wondering whether it is safe or not to allow their kids to resume indoor activities such as playdates, going to the movies and attending extracurricular activities.

"Just because restrictions are being lifted doesn't mean that suddenly everything's safe. Covid-19 infection levels are still quite high in many communities. Government-required measures are ending, but that doesn't mean that individuals should make every risky choice," CNN Medical Analyst Dr. Leana Wen says

But nearly everything we do carries some level of risk when it comes to contracting Covid-19. The question families should ask is: How much do we want to keep avoiding the coronavirus? And what's the price we're willing to pay to do so?

Send your questions here . Are you a health care worker fighting Covid-19? Message us on WhatsApp about the challenges you're facing: +1 347-322-0415.

READS OF THE WEEK

Queen Elizabeth experiencing mild Covid symptoms

Britain's Queen Elizabeth II canceled her planned virtual engagements on Tuesday as she continued to suffer from mild Covid-19 symptoms, Buckingham Palace has said. The palace announced Sunday that the 95-year-old monarch had contracted the virus.

"As Her Majesty is still experiencing mild cold-like symptoms she has decided not to undertake her planned virtual engagements today, but will continue with light duties," the palace said. Light duties likely refer to her head of state responsibilities such as reading and answering documents and letters, which she receives daily in her famous red dispatch boxes, Max Foster and Lauren Said-Moorhouse explain

The Queen's diagnosis is the latest Covid case to hit the royal household. Her eldest son and heir to the British throne, Prince Charles, contracted the virus for a second time on February 10, and had seen his mother "recently." Days later, his wife, Camilla, also tested positive. Additionally, a royal source told CNN Sunday that there had recently been "a number of cases ... diagnosed in the Windsor Castle team." UK media have reported that the Queen is fully vaccinated.

As the US looks to move on from Covid-19, high-risk and disabled Americans feel forgotten

Tasha Nelson's 10-year-old son Jack, who has cystic fibrosis, a progressive genetic disease that causes persistent, damaging lung infections, held back tears when he heard the news. The two were in the car when the announcement came through the radio: Virginia's freshly sworn-in governor had signed an order attempting to ban mask mandates in schools. "My son looked up at me and he had tears in his eyes because he knew what it meant. He said, 'Mom, does that mean I can't go to school anymore?'" Nelson said. "He said, 'Can't we let the governor know about kids like me? I want to go to school too.'"

As local and state leaders across the US remove mask and vaccination rules, immunocompromised, disabled and chronically ill Americans say that doing away with protections will leave them more vulnerable — especially as they, or family members, return to in-person work or school. And for some, Covid-19 vaccines are not as effective in staving off a severe bout with the virus, Christina Maxouris writes

The high-risk people CNN spoke to said as the country eagerly looks to move on from the pandemic, they feel forgotten — and worse, like they don't matter to the rest of the American public. Some say they feel like they've been left to adapt to a more dangerous reality, while others are now mapping out a permanently isolated lifestyle.

Reinfections of Omicron subvariants are possible, but rare

A WHO advisory group met to discuss the latest evidence on Omicron, including subvariants BA.1 and BA.2, on Tuesday, after reports that the latter was not only spreading faster than its distant cousin, but may also cause more severe disease . Based on available data on transmission, severity, reinfection and impacts of vaccines, the group advised that that BA.2 should continue to be considered a variant of concern and remain classified as Omicron.

WHO's experts considered real-world data on clinical severity from Denmark, where BA.2 is currently the dominant cause of Covid-19. A new Danish study found that getting reinfected with two different Omicron subvariants was possible, but that it was a rare occurrence, largely afflicting those who are unvaccinated and resulting in mostly mild infections. The group also received a briefing from Japanese scientists, who recently conducted lab and animal studies with BA.2. The new lab experiments from Japan show that BA.2 may have features that make it as capable of causing serious illness as older variants of Covid-19, including Delta. And like Omicron, it appears to largely escape the immunity created by vaccines.

TOP TIP

You might need a fourth shot. As the world approaches the second anniversary of the declaration of the Covid-19 pandemic by the WHO, on March 11, more nations are rolling out — or considering — fourth doses of coronavirus vaccine for their most vulnerable.

Israel was the first nation to roll out fourth doses, and Sweden and the UK have recently said they would follow suit. In the US, leading public health officials say they are "very carefully" monitoring if or when fourth doses might be needed, with signs that it might be recommended as we move into fall — coinciding with the administration of flu shots.

Here's why Dr. Anthony Fauci and other public health experts say boosting will be critical

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Ten Things You Need to Know Today: 3 March 2021 | The Week UK

Parents ‘blackmailed’ over tests

Parents say they have been “blackmailed” by schools into giving consent for Covid tests after being told their children will be banned from face-to-face lessons if they refuse. They say they are “gobsmacked” after headteachers wrote to explain that any pupils who do not agree to take lateral flow tests at the start of term will be segregated from their peers. The Department for Education says the tests are voluntary.