The tennis world is still trying to digest the run of form Iga Swiatek is currently on.
For a significant portion of two years the Pole dominated the WTA Tour in ways very few before her had illustrated.
In that time she took her tally to 22 titles, five of which are Grand Slams. Iga Swiatek also established herself as the game’s best clay court player during her time at the summit of women’s tennis.
But Swiatek’s fortunes have changed over the past 11 to 12 months, and she is some distance from the form that struck fear into her opponents.
Photo by Robert Prange/Getty ImagesJon Wertheim says there is a crisis regarding Iga Swiatek
Swiatek was on top of the tennis world when she claimed her third successive French Open title and fourth overall in June 2024.
But things have changed over the past year as Swiatek lost the world number one ranking, suffered a one-month doping ban, and has failed to win a title since her last success in Paris.’
Furthermore, Swiatek changed her coach from Tomasz Wiktorowski to Wim Fissette, and so far it has not yielded any silverware. The 23-year-old has suffered some crushing defeats this season, which has translated onto clay.
Ahead of the French Open, Swiatek is looking more vulnerable than at any other point in her career, and Jon Wertheim expressed his concerns.
“We are sounding the alarm. It does not mean that she won’t figure it out but she has not reached a final since Roland Garros 2024.,” he said via Tennis Channel live. “48 weeks since she never mind won a title, she hasn’t even reached a final. I think some of this is the results.
“She lost in Miami to Eala. Now it’s like, Coco has gotten her number, Ostapenko has a number, Mirra Andreeva has her number. It’s not like she is losing to Sabalenka in the final 6-4 in the third. I think there is a real crisis here. I think some of this is the match results.
“Some of this is that she does not protect joy. We have seen social media posts, interviews, you see the stress welded to her face when she plays.
“Some of this is that the results have not been there but some of this is the way she is projecting. My theory, hot take, is that this doping incident really impacted her.”
Photo by Robert Prange/Getty ImagesIga Swiatek to suffer WTA rankings dip after early clay court defeats
Swiatek suffered two of the most devastating defeats this year during the European clay court season.
The Pole reached the Madrid Open semi-finals, but lost two games in a defeat to Coco Gauff in just one hour and four minutes.
Swiatek then faced Danielle Collins in Rome, and lost 1-6, 5-7 in the third round, which means she will drop from number two to number four in the world rankings.
Wertheim thinks this does not bode well ahead of her title defence in Paris, where Swiatek could lose even more points.
“There’s clearly some chaos in the camp. She has made an off season coaching change that did not pay off,” Wertheim said.
“This is a player who is going to be number four, best case scenario, at Roland Garros, that is jarring in itself. But more to me is that she has not won a tournament since her fourth Roland Garros, it has been a rough 11 months.”