“It was like a check”: the rematch Naomi Osaka has been waiting for, and the test Iga Swiatek wants before Paris
Two years after their Roland-Garros first-round thriller, Naomi Osaka and Iga Swiatek meet again in Rome – for very different reasons.
Iga Swiatek and Naomi Osaka, Roland-Garros 2024 | © Michael Baucher / Bestimage / PsnewZ
Iga Swiatek and Naomi Osaka had ordinary Sunday afternoons in Rome. Swiatek beat Elisabetta Cocciaretto 6-1, 6-0 in 56 minutes. A few hours earlier, Osaka beat Diana Shnaider 6-1, 6-2 in not much more. Then they walked into their press conferences and were told the draw had given them each other in the round of 16. The first big collision of the second week. The most anticipated women’s match of the clay swing so far.
Because it’s a rematch of one of the most dramatic Slam first-round matches of the past five years. Both want it. Neither wants it for the same thing.
For Osaka, this is the rematch of the most significant match of her comeback. In May 2024, fifteen months after giving birth to her daughter Shai in July 2023 and four months after her return to the tour at the Brisbane International, Osaka walked onto Court Philippe-Chatrier for a Roland-Garros second-round match against the world No. 1, the defending champion, the player on what was, even then, indisputably her best surface.
She lost 7-6, 1-6, 7-5. She served for the match in the third set. She held a match point. She did not convert it. Swiatek went on to cry in the locker room, to win the title: her fourth Roland-Garros, her third in a row.
Asked about the rematch on Sunday, Osaka returned to that match without prompting, twice. “I do like thinking about that match,” she said. “Even though I didn’t win, it was like a check. That was my first big match after pregnancy. To challenge her on one of her best – or her best – surface was really cool.”
Asked whether the loss had made her feel she belonged again, at this level, on this surface, Osaka said yes to both. “She was the first top player I played. I’ve always had a little bit of hardships on this surface. So to play the best player on her best surface and come really close, it meant a lot to me.”
Two years of meaning for Osaka
This is, then, a rematch carrying nearly two years of meaning for Osaka. When she was told she would face Swiatek next – she hadn’t checked the draw – she laughed and said, “Life is a little cruel. Sabalenka (in Madrid last week), now Iga.” Then, in the same answer: “I think obviously for me that’s where I show up. Even though it hasn’t been in my favour the last couple of times, for me those matches are the most fun. I’m excited at the thought.”
Swiatek’s framing, two hours later, was different in almost every register. She arrived in Rome 2-2 across Stuttgart and Madrid, with the Madrid week cut short by a stomach bug, two matches into a new partnership with Francisco Roig w whose Achilles tendon Swiatek tore mid-volley in a pre-tournament exhibition, leaving her coach watching practices from a chair. She has admitted she is “a little rusty with playing points.” She is preparing, by her own description, for Roland-Garros rather than for Rome.
For her, the Osaka match is something to use.
“I think it’s going to be a tough match,” Swiatek said in her own mixed zone on Sunday, after a 6-1, 6-0 win over Elisabetta Cocciaretto. “She is playing better on clay, I would say. Two years ago I could feel that at Roland-Garros. I’m going to prepare tactically, see how she plays now. We had a chance to practise in Madrid.”
Then the line that defines her side of the match: “Either if I win or lose, I can kind of also see where my level is at.”
Better conditions for Swiatek
The tactical question is real. The two practised together in Madrid earlier this month, so Swiatek has live recent data on what Osaka’s ball-striking and movement currently look like. Osaka, for her part, has spent the week saying she is consciously rebuilding the on-court routines she had drifted away from since her comeback.
The conditions favour the higher-ranked player. Rome’s clay this week is heavier and slower than Roland-Garros, with the long rallies that suit Swiatek’s depth and Osaka’s least-favoured tactical environment. But the rallies also reward aggression on serve, and Osaka has it.
“When she has a good day, she feels the ball well, she’s a really tough opponent,” Swiatek said. “I need to be ready to not give anything for free, fight for every point.” “Hopefully my fitness is there, as well,” Osaka said. They will find out on Monday. It’s the last match of the day on the BNP-Paribas arena, second court of the Foro Italico.
