John McEnroe Believes “Something’s Not Right” with Iga Swiatek but Picks Her as the Favorite to Win the Roland Garros

Iga Swiatek opened her French Open campaign with a sublime 6-3, 6-3 win over Rebecca Sramkova to reach the second round in Paris.

John McEnroe Believes “Something’s Not Right” with Iga Swiatek but Picks Her as the Favorite to Win the Roland Garros

Iga Swiatek and John McEnroe (via X/Roland Garros/Daily Express)

Iga Swiatek is seeking her fourth successive title at the Roland Garros this year. The Polish star has enjoyed excellent form at the tournament, losing only twice since making her debut at the French Open. Tennis legend John McEnroe believes she’s struggling with a problem while weighing in on her chance to win the title.

Swiatek is seeded fifth at the Roland Garros for the first time since 2021. This is a result of the former World No.1 struggle on the court this season, especially this clay season. She shockingly lost to Danielle Collins in the third round of the Italian Open after Coco Gauff defeated her in the semi-final in Madrid.

However, the five-time Grand Slam champion’s struggles began after winning the French Open last year. She has not been to any tournament final since then and has struggled to get past opponents that she has a favorable head-to-head record, except from Jelena Ostapenko, who defeated her in Doha and Stuttgart.

At the French Open, Swiatek is seeking to turn things around despite her low confidence levels. In fact, she revealed during her press conference in Paris that she’s struggling with perfectionism on the court. She was also handed a tough draw at the Roland Garros, which made it difficult for her to defend the title.

During a conversation on TNT Sports, John McEnroe revealed that Swiatek is the greatest clay-court player in the women’s circuit while also pointing out that there’s something wrong that has affected her game.

To me, she’s the greatest clay-court player, obviously, in the women’s game. There’s no question about it. That doesn’t mean she’s gonna win this again, but she was almost unbeatable on this surface. So I’m surprised that she hasn’t won any tournaments since the French [in 2024], especially on clay. So something’s not right there. That doesn’t mean that I wouldn’t still call her — if I had to say who’s favorite — I’d still pick her.

Swiatek opened her account at the French Open on Monday (May 26) after beating Rebecca Sramkova 6-3, 6-3. It was her 36th win at the Roland Garros. She will face Emma Raducanu in the second round after the British star defeated Wang Xinyu in a three sets intense battle. It will be their fifth meeting on tour and second this season.

John McEnroe says Iga Swiatek is still the player to beat at the French Open despite her struggle

Iga Swiatek’s struggle on the court has led to Aryna Sabalenka’s dominance in the women’s circuit this season. While the former has not reached any final this year, the latter has been to six finals. Also, the likes of Jelena Ostapenko, Coco Gauff, and Madison Keys are playing great tennis. However, John McEnroe believes that Swiatek is the player to beat at the Roland Garros.

Iga Swiatek (2)
Iga Swiatek (Image via X/Game, Set & Talk)

The other female players out there see that she’s not playing with the same level of confidence. And clearly if she played, say [Jelena] Ostapenko in the round of 16, she’s 0-6, amazingly, against Ostapenko. So she’s probably like, ‘I hope I don’t play her. But she still to me is the person to beat. And obviously after that, you have the three Americans (Coco Gauff, Jessica Pegula and Madison Keys) — three of the top 10. You got [Aryna] Sabalenka, but you’ve got the obvious other players that you would suspect will win it if she doesn’t.

Swiatek is in the same half of the French Open draw with Sabalenka and they could face each other in the semi-finals. Sabalenka has never reached the final of the Roland Garros, with her best run in Paris being reaching the semi-finals in 2023 before losing to Karolina Muchova in three sets.

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