Iga Swiatek has been one of the world's most dominant players in women's tennis.
She had a string of three straight French Open titles from 2022-2024, and she looks like the favorite to win her first Wimbledon championship in 2025.
As Swiatek has continued crushing opponents in the sport, there has been an apparent side job popping up on the resume of the Polish 24-year-old: running a bakery. Particularly during the 2023 French Open, fans began talking more about "Iga's Bakery" on social media.
And it has been picked up by more than just her fans.
Iga’s Bakery: Open 🥯🥖
— Roland-Garros (@rolandgarros) June 3, 2023
Defending champion @iga_swiatek rolls past Wang 6-0, 6-0 in 51 minutes.#RolandGarros pic.twitter.com/DBDdYzAVch
What exactly is Iga's Bakery? Here's what you need to know.
MORE: Tennis' top grand slam winners of all-time: Who has won the most titles?
Iga Swiatek bakery, explained
There are many fine bakeries in Europe. Delightful shops that sell croissants, danishes, macaroons and other baked goods.
Swiatek doesn't specialize in any of those, however. She hands out bagels and breadsticks to opponents she faces in tennis matches.
Well, not exactly. "Iga's Bakery" is not a literal shop that people can visit. It is instead a reference to the scores of her unfortunate opponents.
Bagels happen in tennis when a player is shut out in a set, losing 6-0. Breadsticks are what happens when opponents win only one game and fall in a set 6-1.
Swiatek handed plenty of those out to opponents in 2023. She gave a double bagel to Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova in the Italian Open on May 12 and handed out four bagels at Roland Garros, one each to Cristina Bucsa in the first round and Claire Liu in the second and another double in the third to Xinyu Wang.
The idea of Swiatek running a bakery might be an amusing idea to tennis fans, but the star certainly has no interest in taking part in the craze.
"Look, I don't want to really talk about that. I really get why people do that because it's fun and tennis is entertainment and everything," Swiatek said, according to Reuters. "But from the players' point of view, I want to be respectful to my opponents. You don't see the stuff that is behind the scenes - sometimes it's not easy to play such matches and sometimes it's not easy also for the opponents.
"I don't want to talk about the bakery. Twitter can talk about it, but I'm just going to be focused on tennis."
MORE: The 6 greatest wins of Coco Gauff's career, from Wimbledon history to French Open title
What is a bagel in tennis?
A bagel is simply a 6-0 win in a single set, named for the zero-game win total of the winning player's opponent. A double bagel is a pair of 6-0 wins to sweep a best-of-three match.
Swiatek has handed out plenty of bagels in her career, but double bagels are considerably rarer — even for a player of her caliber. She has seven double bagels in her career, though only one has come during a grand slam event (her win against Wang). Swiatek has handed out 65 bagels in her career.
1 - Iga Swiatek has her first 6-0 6-0 scoreline at a Grand Slam event. It's the fourth in the women's singles at Roland-Garros in the past decade and the first since Caroline Wozniacki defeated Francoise Abanda in 2017. Benchmark.#RolandGarros | @rolandgarros @WTA @WTA_insider pic.twitter.com/Rku8bXSIKo
— OptaAce (@OptaAce) June 3, 2023
The record for most double bagels in grand slam singles tournaments is split between Suzanne Lenglen and Margaret Court, as both players have 14. Serena Williams, widely considered to be the greatest tennis player in the modern era — if not all time — has only four in grand slam singles events.
MORE: Why is it called Roland Garros? The legend behind the French Open
What is a breadstick in tennis?
Breadsticks are a bit more common than bagels — though are certainly an impressive feat in themselves. A breadstick is when a player wins 6-1 in a set, allowing just the single win by the opponent. A double breadstick means winning two sets 6-1, 6-1 to sweep a match.
MORE: Tennis scoring, explained: A guide to understanding the rules, tiebreakers, more