Lots to concern Swiatek ahead of Roland-Garros
Ahead of her beloved French Open, the former world No 1 has never looked so vulnerable on clay
Iga Swiatek in Madrid (Laurent Lairys/PSNewz)
It may have come as a shock to many. On Thursday afternoon, Iga Swiatek was crushed on the court by Coco Gauff, suffering an ignominious 6-1, 6-1 defeat in just over an hour, in the semi-finals of the WTA 1000 in Madrid.
Her last major setback on clay came in 2019, at the French Open against Simona Halep (6-1, 6-0). Yet that was a completely different era: the Pole was just 18 years old and had not won any of her four Paris titles.
It’s rare to see Swiatek distraught on a court, let alone on clay, her favourite surface. She has won 10 of her 22 titles on it. Yet this year, ahead of the French Open, the former world No 1 has never looked so vulnerable on this surface. In fact, her last title on the circuit came at Roland-Garros last year. Given her current momentum – or lack of it – a fifth title in Paris seems a long way off.
“Tennis for me it’s the most logical [on clay], and also you can be more creative in terms of the tactics and everything, so I really enjoy that,” Swiatek said before the beginning of the Madrid tournament.
“Yeah, I think when I feel like I can use this on a match court, for sure I am more relaxed. I just know my weapons, I know I always have a plan B in my defense, which sometimes is impossible, you know, on faster hard courts, for example. So I just use that and it gives me confidence for sure.”
Nothing going right for Swiatek against Gauff
Her tactical sense, which has been her strength on clay in recent years, seems to have disappeared in 2025. Against Gauff in the semi-finals, she admitted it herself: even her plan B didn’t work, because nothing was going right in the Polish player’s game.
Her current shortcomings had already been seen in the previous rounds, but the fact that she won dismissed some of those questions. For a set and a half, she didn’t show much against Philippine Alexandra Eala, in the first round, who had knocked her out a few weeks earlier in Miami. Against Diana Shnaider in the last 16, she was also pushed around in the second set before coming through. She also dropped a surprising first set 6-0 to Madison Keys in the quarter-finals.
“I didn’t play well even on these matches that I won,” she admitted after her loss to Gauff.
She had earlier reflected: “I didn’t really move well, I wasn’t ready to play back the shots with heaviness, and, yeah, with that kind of game like, yeah, it was pretty bad.”
Swiatek: I’m not a different player
Following the conclusion of Stuttgart and Madrid, Swiatek has yet to win a single title on clay before Roland-Garros. Leaving aside the 2020 season, played during the Covid-19 pandemic, Swiatek has never yet arrived in Paris without a title.
She still has the WTA 1000 in Rome, which she has already won on multiple occasions (2021, 2022, 2024), to reverse a worrying trend. Swiatek doesn’t seem to be worried, however.
“I’m not a different player than I was like for past years in terms of my attitude or my emotions,” she said, and when pressed on her evident lack of enjoyment on court, she replied: “Well, I’m not going to smile if it’s 6-1, 6-1.”
Perhaps Swiatek’s salvation will lie in the return of her enjoyment of the game. That seems to have been severely lost in recent weeks.
