Former World No. 9 backs Iga Swiatek to bounce back to her very best at the French Open amid a run of poor form
Iga Swiatek will be the second seed at the Roland Garros after dropping 935 points at the Italian Open following her third-round exit.
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Iga Swiatek (Image via X/The Tennis Letter)
Iga Swiatek is regarded as one of the best players currently playing in the women’s circuit. However, she has been struggling on the court for almost a year now and looks to be getting worse after the Italian Open. But former World No.9 Andrea Petkovic believes that she will bounce back better than before ahead of the French Open.
Swiatek last won a tour-level title at the 2024 French Open after beating Jasmine Paolini 6-2, 6-1. Since the start of this season, it was only once that she failed to reach the quarter-finals of a tournament this season. Nonetheless, Swiatek has often been known to play her best tennis on clay, as she has been dubbed the queen of clay. But this season, she’s yet to win any title on the surface.
She opened her clay campaign at the Stuttgart Open, reaching the quarter-finals before losing to Jelena Ostapenko in three sets. The former World No.1 was hoping to bounce back at the Madrid Open, where she arrived as the defending champion, but was stunned by Coco Gauff in straight sets.
At the just concluded Italian Open, she entered he competition as the favorite and defending champion but could only win one match. She was shockingly defeated by America’s Danielle Collins 6-1, 7-5 in the third round. The loss has dampened Swiatek’s hopes of claiming the World No.1 from the in-form Aryna Sabalenka.
In a post on Subtrack, Petkovic has backed Swiatek to return to form. The 37-year-old stated that she remains optimistic about Swiatek’s ability to return to her best form amid her poor results.
We can see what happens when the absence of doubt becomes absent with Iga Swiatek right now. Everything that seemed natural and innate becomes artificial and forced. What once flowed now stutters, what once was natural now is hard. It’s almost easier for somebody like me who, one day, just got used to having doubts. They were foes no more, only bizarre voices in my head. Iga, on the other hand, never had to live with them. All she ever knew how to be was the best tennis player in the world. She will calibrate again, that’s what champions do.
Andrea Petkovic said via Andrea Petkovic Subtrack
Swiatek now has 2,000 points to defend at the Roland Garros, which starts on May 25. If she does not perform at her best, she might end up outside of the top 5 in the WTA rankings. The former World No.1 has to step up her game at the clay court Grand Slam event, as her rivals – Sabalenka and Coco Gauff – hope to win the title for the first time in their careers
Iga Swiatek enters the French Open as the fifth seed for the first time in over three years
Jasmine Paolini winning the Italian Open saw Iga Swiatek drop three places in the WTA rankings. The Polish star, who has been ranked No. 2 since October, fell to No. 5 after dropping 935 points for exiting the Italian Open in the third round. It’s her lowest position since March 2022, when she was World No.8.
It means that she will be seeded fifth at the Roland Garros next week and could face several top players in the early rounds. However, Swiatek remains the favorite to win the Roland Garros. She has 21 straight matches at the tournament, lifting the Roland Garros in the last three years. In fact, all the players ranked above her have never won the French Open.
So, Swiatek has the best experience when it comes to playing at the biggest clay-court stage. But that may not really count as she’s not in her best form. However, if she does reach the final of the tournament, it will increase her confidence to win the title, as she has never been to a final since the 2024 French Open.
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