Iga Swiatek suffers earliest loss at Roland Garros since 2019

 

2026 marks the first Roland Garros where I honestly regretted setting my alarm for 5 am to watch Iga. 

It's always been something I looked forward to and couldn't wait for. But that was not the case today. 

Today I wish I had just slept through it. 

I can't even say I feel disappointed because, the overwhelming feeling is actually sadness. Sadness for the way things used to be vs the way they are now. 

And I realize I once again raised my expectations way too high knowing Iga's confidence is nowhere near where it should or could be, but it's hard not to do that when she's set the standard so high over the years. 

Afterall she did win Wimbledon out of the blue last year along with 2 other titles.

The belief in her is always there regardless of evidence to the contrary. The way it always used to be for me with Roger Federer. 

That's what legends do they make you believe. And despite her loss today Iga will always be that. 

A Legend. 

Even if she were to never win another Slam again.

Today felt a bit like watching Rafa at his peak vs when he was past his prime. But I know that she will be back, because unlike Rafa her career has barely begun and  despite what some may think she's not even in her prime (she literally turned 25 on this very day). 

I honestly think people forget sometimes just how young she was when she reached the height of her successes. She was just 19 when she won the first Roland Garros.

Right now though it's very evident that there's still a lot of work to be done in terms of getting back that mental toughness she had as a 19 year old and onward. 

I'm not going to talk about her sports psychologist or team or whatever else because I feel like I've done that ad nauseam this year.

Everyone online has really, but at the end of the day that's all it is talk and opinions. 

Only Iga knows what she needs and how to solve the issues she's having. And I think it's wise to remember that it'll take time and that as Iga herself admitted in her post match interview it may not happen in a month or even this year. 

It is interesting that she's considering hiring a 2nd coach after Wimbledon (which does makes sense given Roig has a serious injury and it's hard for him to travel everywhere). 

Iga does need someone who will be with her all year round. 

Having 2 coaches is certainly not a new concept, Jannik Sinner has had 2 for a while and it's working well for him. 

Maybe this is something Iga can also benefit from. She still needs someone to help her rediscover her belief in herself, her game and maybe most importantly her serve because it really let her down again today. 

Hard to put pressure on any opponent if you can't get free points yourself with the one weapon you can control. 

The saddest part about today might be not just the way she lost, (basically giving the match away after leading twice in the 1st set) but also the way she went out with a whimper instead of a fight. 

In a place that she dominated for years, a place she absolutely loves and celebrates her Birthdays at.

Must have felt like an absolute gut punch. 

I want to stay positive for Wimbledon but I don't know that the pressure of being the defending champion will do her any favors at this point. 

She's as low as can be and not even a good draw will help with that. If the belief in her game isn't there everything else falls apart. 

And 3 weeks doesn't feel like nearly enough time to find any solutions temporary or long term.

It's really too bad I was looking forward to the possibility that someone might finally defend the Wimbledon title (which hasn't happened since Serena Williams in the 2010's)

She may still surprise, in sport you just never know but there are just too many doubts at the moment.  

I do believe she'll comeback stronger yet, because as I've said many times in the past  someone with her talent is too good not to. 

But we'll all just have to be patient as she goes through the process. 

Hope she at least got to spend her Birthday surrounded by the people she loves, and that she remembers that there are a lot of people out there grateful that she exists.

And that without her Poland never would have gotten a Grand Slam champion and certainly not a multiple one. 

So Happy Birthday Iga, hope you rest up and enjoy yourself a bit before the sport makes demands of you again. 

See you on the grass.

Jazda!.

Iga Swiatek back in the 2nd week of Roland Garros

Four-time champion Iga Swiatek is looking like her old, dominant self in Paris.

The Pole moved through her third-round clash with compatriot Magda Linette on Friday afternoon on Court Chatrier, pulling away after a tense opening eight games, to book her eighth trip to the second week on the Parisian clay, 6-4, 6-4.

Tension rippled through the encounter in the early stages, with Linette angling for her second consecutive win over Swiatek after defeating her in three sets in Miami in March. After falling behind 2-0, Swiatek settled in and methodically gained the upper hand.

The six-time major champion clocked a fizzing forehand winner for a break for 5-4 then prevailed in one of the longest rallies of the match a game later to lock down the opening set, 6-4.

Noticeably bossing the rallies, Swiatek showed signs of her former self as she ratcheted up the spin and trajectory of her forehand to put Linette on a string in her backcourt.

“Iga’s forehand looks much different today than it was in the first few rounds of this tournament,” said three-time major champion Lindsay Davenport, who commentated the match for TNT. “She’s able to hit through the court more effectively, she’s up at almost 3000 rpms – that is a lot.”

According to graphics shown during the broadcast, Swiatek is finding nine centimetres more net clearance on her forehand this year, compared with last year, and she is delivering approximately 160 more rpms off that devastating forehand wing.

After claiming the opener, Swiatek raced out to a double-break lead, but 73rd-ranked Linette answered back, recapturing one of the breaks for 2-4 and holding for 3-4 to put pressure back on Swiatek.

Swiatek, the consummate frontrunner on the terre battue, closed the books on Linette in an hour and 25 minutes, finishing the match with two consecutive holds of serve. The 24-year-old remains undefeated at Roland-Garros after claiming the opening set, winning 39 such matches, and 37 of those 39 in straight sets.
Kostyuk next

The 2020, 2022, 2023 and 2024 champion improves to 43-3 lifetime at Roland-Garros and sets an enticing round of 16 clash with Ukrainian Marta Kostyuk, who will carry a 14-0 record on clay into their fourth career meeting.

Swiatek has won the previous three, including a 6-3, 6-4 triumph in Paris in 2021 in their only clay court meeting.
Forehand firing up

Though she had some struggles on serve during Friday’s contest, Swiatek can take comfort in the fact that her forehand is now firing on all cylinders.

“She’s getting back to playing more clay-court style tennis, not trying to outhit big hitters, but using the bounce and using her topspin to do a lot of the work on the clay,” Davenport said.

1993 women’s singles finalist Mary Joe Fernandez was also impressed.

“It gives her more safety, so she has more margin for error, and it also gives her more time to set up the next shot, when she hits higher over the net,” said the American, also a TNT commentator. “Now she’s using it in a better way to open up the court.

"That’s when she’s at her best, when she can just start controlling the point, moving her opponent from corner to corner, and the forehand is where it all starts.”

rolandgarros.com

Iga Swiatek sets up a historic all-Polish 3rd round at Roland Garros

 

Iga Swiatek is reticent about stretching her culinary skills too far after conceding she only really knows one simple yet publicly divisive pasta dish.

Fortunately, success opens doors for a six-time Grand Slam champion, one of which includes having a chef come to do the cooking at her Paris accommodation during Roland-Garros.

The Pole had enough on her hands finding a way past wily Czech lefty Sara Bejlek 6-2, 6-3 in the second round, so the thought of retreating to her off-site haven and have someone else whip up a post-match feast was a welcome reward.

Though she has made no secret of recalibrating between matches, taking a book to a park or making a quick side trip to the likes of the Palace of Versailles, this year satisfying the palate is her off-court French focus.

“Honestly, this year is more about cuisine, I would say, because actually I have a chef in the evening from Roland-Garros,” Swiatek said. “You know, he's I think working at this restaurant next to [Court] Simone-Mathieu.

“So I would say this year I'm exploring a little bit healthy French cuisine – not French fries, though. No, I mean, he has the skills. I have no talent. I would just make a mess in the kitchen.”

During her run to a maiden Wimbledon crown last year, Swiatek revealed a traditional Polish dish from childhood, makaron z truskawkami – pasta with strawberries – was her favourite meal to cook.

She reminded the world her cooking skills hadn’t developed in an on-court interview at this year’s Australian Open.

“I’m a terrible cook. Honestly the only thing I can do is pasta with strawberries. Half of the world is hating on it,” she said. “I don’t get why. Honestly that’s the only thing I can do.”

There’d be no such dish on the menu during a major, much less requested of a French chef in the house.

With meal preparations left to the expert, Swiatek was left to ply her expertise to her march towards the second week in Paris.

It remained on track on Court Philippe-Chatrier but not without a glitch after the wily Bejlek’s variety caused more than a few issues.

The Pole did not have it all her own way but stepped up when it mattered to improve her record against southpaws to 40-5 across all levels.

Searching for her first claycourt title since Roland-Garros two years ago, the third seed left plenty of room to iron out kinks on serve following the 94-minute affair on Court Philippe-Chatrier.

Of the eight games the 24-year-old has conceded across two rounds, six were against her serve, including when she tried to close out the opening set against the Czech.

Fortunately for Swiatek, her most dominant game on serve came while shutting the door on this year’s Abu Dhabi champion, a love hold setting an all-Polish third-round showdown after Magda Linette denied former champion Jelena Ostapenko.

“She was pretty good in defence, and I had many opportunities to attack,” Swiatek said. “Sometimes even too many, you know? So when you attack, like most of the balls, of course, you're going to make more mistakes, because it's easier to push the ball back than to actually add a lot of energy to it and try to open the court …

“Pretty unpredictable, I would say, but I didn't mind. I wanted to be flexible and adjust and play my game. Sometimes I had some moments where the mistakes happened, but at the end I feel like I was the one that had control over the game, and it was up to me if I'm going to finish these points or make a mistake. In important moments I was focused and patient enough to play solid.”

rolandgarros.com

While Iga's serve really let her down this match, the rest of her game was solid. She returned well, and extended rallies with a lot of patience something that often goes missing when her serve lets her down but not today she kept her frustrations at bay even despite getting broken a few times. 

Most notably she felt comfortable enough to throw in a bunch of dropshots in one game. Something she used to do a lot more of, but which Wiktorowski got her out of and didn't nurture. 

Definitely will need to improve her serve, but she's not now got a chance to avenge her loss to Linette in Miami if she plays like she did in the first set of that tournament it could be a quick one. 

Thank you Magda Linette for taking out Jelena Ostapenko.

I will say that having 2 Polish players play each other at Roland Garros for the fist time is pretty cool. 

Hopefully it'll be nice and straight forward for Iga because the challenges ahead will only get harder, but we take it one match at a time. 

Jazda!

27 - In the Open Era, only Rafael Nadal (54) and Bjorn Borg (33) have faced more unseeded players than Iga Swiatek (27) at Roland Garros without ever losing. Unfriendly.

42 - Iga Swiatek has become the player with the most wins in Women’s Singles at Roland Garros after her first 45 main draw matches in the Open Era (42, equalling Chris Evert). Legendary.

Iga Swiatek back at Roland Garros with a comfortable win

Iga Swiatek’s bid to reclaim the Roland-Garros crown is off to a hasty start after she allowed 17-year-old Emerson Jones just three games at the first hurdle.

In full flight under full sun on Court Philippe-Chatrier, the Pole delivered a 6-1, 6-2 clay-court masterclass in exactly 60 minutes – her heavy-kicking forehand keeping the teenage Australian under the pump on serve and on the run.

For the athletically blessed Jones, whose mother Loretta Harrop was a silver medallist triathlete at the Athens 2004 Olympics, it was the ultimate learning experience in her first Paris venture since reaching the girls’ singles semifinals last year.

Swiatek was less than two months older when she made her Paris debut and reached the fourth round in just her second major appearance.

Next time round, in 2020, she famously mounted the most unlikely charge for her maiden Grand Slam trophy.

“I feel like in 2019 I already played junior tournament, so I already kind of knew the vibe of the whole event, but obviously it's different playing at a pro level,” Swiatek said.

“I was just trying to do the best result possible with the game that I had, but next year, you know, maybe the difference was that every match I felt like I'm playing better and better, and I really felt like my game is fitting these courts.

“Match by match, I thought maybe I can go one more. I had many more belief, you know.”

In a tussle between the former world No.1 and former junior No.1 on Monday – they concurrently held top spot in their respective rankings in late 2024 – the third seed and four-time champion was relentless throughout, relishing the extra zing in her shots in the heat.

Swiatek could empathise with having salvaged just one game against third seed and reigning champion Simona Halep in that last-16 showing on debut.

“In 2019 I also played quite good. I remember I was a bit injured, but then with Simona, obviously she beat me pretty hard,” Swiatek said. “It was heartbreaking, but it was a lesson that I had to learn. She was playing her best game back then. For sure, without that loss, I wouldn't play much better next year, you know. That's the story.”

The novelty of being an unknown quantity worked in the young Pole’s favour particularly in her early years on tour.

While a handful of women before her had deployed such heavy-kicking and aggressive topspin, Swiatek took it to another level.

It required a period of adaptation for the rest of the field and while her rivals knew better now what to expect, execution was another matter.

“For sure players got used to it. I remember it was all a surprise in 2022 [her most dominant season],” she said.

“It was quite interesting that next year I felt totally different. I think this is what people say when they say it's harder to stay on the top, because you need to adjust your game so it's not that simple for people anymore. Yeah, they get used to it, for sure.

“But on the other hand, I can still make these shots better and they still work. When I played against Ash [Barty], I knew exactly what she's gonna play, but she did it so good that I was still losing these points.

“I knew exactly that she's gonna slice me to the backhand. I'm gonna try to, you know, pick it up with my backhand topspin and she's gonna finish me with her forehand.

"But still I played this one not so good, you know, because her slice was amazing. She played her forehand so well, that I still had no chance.”

Swiatek preserved her flawless Grand Slam record in main draws and qualifying against players outside the top 100 to set a second-round meeting with Czech Sara Bejlek.

For Jones, there was much to take away from her first outing on Chatrier. As Swiatek can vouch, it’s how you respond next time round that matters.

rolandgarros.com