Iga Swiatek was in pursuit of making history at the French Open this year by becoming the first woman in the Open Era to win the title for the fourth consecutive time. However, despite having bigger targets already set in front of her eyes before stepping onto the Philippe-Chatrier, she had quite a few question marks in her mind. Reason? She hasn’t won any title since her 2024 French Open triumph! Considering all these factors, when she was asked to share her optimism surrounding her title defense, she said, “Obviously it would be stupid to expect a lot because I’m not able to play my game right now.” However, seeing her impressive start at this tournament, winning the first three matches in straight sets, her fans yet again started to dream about seeing her lift the title on June 7. But the world number one, Aryna Sabalenka, spoiled the party by showing her the exit door in the semis. What are the reactions coming in seeing Swiatek’s failure to defend her title?
Well, although it was pretty much tight in the first set, Sabalenka got the edge over there. But after that, the Pole made a strong comeback and stole the second set by 6-4 before shockingly going down in the third by 0-6. The match ended 7-6(1),4-6,6-0 in favor of the Belarusian. This is now Iga Swiatek’s first defeat at Roland Garros since 09.06.2021 (1457 days ago). There have been several reactions coming in on social media after seeing her 26-match winning streak come to an end.
But amid all these, Roger Federer-backed sportswear brand, On, showcased their support for the Pole through a heartfelt post. They shared a picture of Iga Swiatek on their IG handle with the caption, “Once a champion. Always a champion. Onwards and upwards, Iga.” Swiatek switched from ASICS to On in March 2023. With this switch, she became the first female athlete to be sponsored by the brand. Showcasing her delight with this new partnership, she had then said, “I’m very excited to be the first female player to join with On.“
Although there has been a little dissatisfaction among the fans surrounding the design of her outfit in multiple events, Iga Swiatek has time and again expressed her gratitude towards the brand. In a previous interview with CNN Sport, she once revealed, “I feel really taken care of, which is sometimes a struggle when you work with companies that have 20 other athletes just in one sport.” Not only that, Swiatek also claims that Federer’s investment in On was a “big factor” in her decision to sign with the company.
“Everything that he does is with so much class. Roger’s a huge inspiration; he changed our game, basically,” said Swiatek. So, the Swiss brand showing support for the Pole is just another display of their unique partnership on and off the court. What was Swiatek’s reaction after losing the match to Sabalenka?
Iga Swiatek reveals her plans for the next few weeks
With this win, Aryna Sabalenka has now taken her H2H to 5-8 against Iga Swiatek. However, this defeat has now also confirmed Swiatek’s shocking slide in the WTA Rankings. After her failure to defend her title at Roland Garros, the Pole is now all set to drop down to number 7. With this dip, it’s now almost certain that she will face Sabalenka as early as the QF in the upcoming tournaments.
Which is going to be her next tournament? Well, Swiatek is currently scheduled to start her grass-court campaign at the Bad Homburg WTA event. Talking about her plans for the next few weeks, she said, “I’m going to have a few days off, but the coaches will plan that. Hopefully, we’re going to have some decent kind of little preseason on grass, because it’s always been pretty hard to have that, especially when I want to be at home for a little bit. But I don’t feel like I need to be home right now, so maybe I’ll go somewhere in Europe to practice.“
What are her thoughts about her performance in this tournament? “It wasn’t a bad tournament, but obviously, yeah, not the result I wanted. I think I lost my intensity a bit, and she just played, you know, like pretty strong as she did in the first set, but I didn’t react to that well and just couldn’t push back.“
Even the former WTA player and TNT Sports commentator CoCo Vandeweghe highlighted this issue in her game against Sabalenka by saying, “It was a sad beginning because I thought Iga had it. I thought she was gaining momentum and had figured out what Sabalenka was doing. Sabalenka was taking the ball early and was able to take Iga’s spin on the rise, which is really hard to do on the clay courts, but because the roof is closed the conditions were perfect. Then Iga fell away. Mentally, she was just bothered constantly, and that was what was so worrying to me the whole match. I just think she realized the moment that was at hand.”
She claimed, “I think Iga is feeling the pressure of no titles so far and hasn’t played her best tennis or anywhere near it.” Having said that, she also questioned if Swiatek’s downfall now means a “changing of the guard” on clay. Do you think Iga Swiatek can make a strong comeback on grass?
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