{"id":145016,"date":"2025-05-30T20:37:13","date_gmt":"2025-05-30T20:37:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/145016\/"},"modified":"2025-05-30T20:37:13","modified_gmt":"2025-05-30T20:37:13","slug":"tim-henman-noticed-something-concerning-about-iga-swiatek-immediately-after-her-third-round-win-at-roland-garros","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/145016\/","title":{"rendered":"Tim Henman noticed something concerning about Iga Swiatek immediately after her third-round win at Roland Garros"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Iga Swiatek continues to make her way through the French Open draw in search of a fourth consecutive title.<\/strong><\/p>\n

The WTA Tour\u2019s<\/a> fifth-ranked player began her campaign with a routine 6-3, 6-3 win over Slovakia\u2019s Rebecca Sramkova.<\/p>\n

Producing an even more dominant display in round two, Swiatek beat Emma Raducanu<\/a> 6-2, 6-2, booking her place in the third round.<\/p>\n

\"EmmaPhoto by Adam Pretty\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

There, she faced her toughest test of the tournament so far, as Romania\u2019s Jaqueline Cristian pushed Swiatek<\/a> close, eventually coming up short, 2-6, 5-7.<\/p>\n

Speaking to TNT Sports after the match, Tim Henman<\/a> shared his concerns over Swiatek after watching her immediate reaction to the win.<\/p>\n

Tim Henman says Iga Swiatek\u2019s \u2018tense\u2019 post-match reaction proves she\u2019s not feeling confident.<\/p>\n

The former Wimbledon<\/a> semi-finalist was keen to address Swiatek\u2019s reaction to her win over Cristian, which he believed was \u2018tense\u2019.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

\u201cThe reaction,\u201d said Henman.<\/p>\n

\u201cLook, she\u2019s won the match, but she\u2019s such a good clay-court player. She\u2019s won this four times; that reaction is very much symptomatic of where she\u2019s at right now.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s definite tension out on the court, perhaps not so confident with her game. When she got through, there was a big sigh of relief.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"IgaPhoto by Robert Prange\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

The Pole celebrated with a loud roar as she secured the win, advancing to the fourth round.<\/p>\n

Former British tennis star Anne Keothavong weighed in with her thoughts, agreeing that Swiatek may have felt relieved to have beaten Cristian in straight sets.<\/p>\n

\u201cJaqueline Cristian is the first person to really trouble her in a set of tennis here in Paris,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe reaction, maybe just relief more than anything, but it\u2019s good to see someone able to test her, because in her previous two rounds, she looked invincible.\u201d<\/p>\n

During her post-match interview, Swiatek didn\u2019t look low on confidence whatsoever, as she shared just how happy she was to win on Court Suzanne-Lenglen.<\/p>\n

Iga Swiatek says she\u2019s \u2018happy with her performance\u2019 and gives her verdict on the conditions in Paris<\/p>\n

Swiatek broke Cristian\u2019s serve at 5-6 in the second set to secure the win and now shares her thoughts on the last game of the match.<\/p>\n

\u201cWell I\u2019m just happy that I was super solid in the last game and didn\u2019t give any free points,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor sure, she used her chances and she went for it every time I gave her a chance, so it was a great match, pretty entertaining. We both played nice, so I\u2019m happy that I\u2019m through, happy with the performance.\u201d<\/p>\n

The 23-year-old then gave her verdict on the conditions, which were much hotter for her third-round match than they were in rounds one and two.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor sure, I don\u2019t mind, and on clay it gives the ball the extra bounce, but it\u2019s about the control as well, I had to balance it,\u201d said Swiatek.<\/p>\n

\"IgaPhoto by Robert Prange\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s tricky when one day it\u2019s like that, before it was 20 degrees, maybe less, when I played my first match, and now it\u2019s 30 [degrees], it\u2019s not easy to adjust to that because the balls fly differently in the air.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut I\u2019ve played in every condition, maybe not here because Roland Garros is usually rainy, but last year at the Olympics<\/a> it was super hot like that, so I was ready for it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Swiatek explained the changes she made to her equipment to help adjust to the different conditions.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a must-have, if you want to swing the same way in different conditions, you need to change something, it\u2019s not good to change the way you play, so the best way is to adjust the equipment,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cGoing up with the tension is the right thing to do. I went one kilo up on both strings.\u201d<\/p>\n

She\u2019ll likely have to adjust the tension again before her fourth-round match, as the conditions are expected to be much cooler on Sunday.<\/p>\n

Iga Swiatek avoids Jelena Ostapenko rematch in the French Open fourth-round<\/p>\n

Awaiting Swiatek in the fourth round was the winner of Jelena Ostapenko<\/a> and Elena Rybakina, two former Grand Slam champions.<\/p>\n

Swiatek would have been forgiven for hoping Rybakina<\/a> emerged victorious, considering her dreadful head-to-head record with Ostapenko.<\/p>\n\nMatch<\/strong><\/td>\nWinner<\/strong><\/td>\nLoser<\/strong><\/td>\nScore<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n\n2025 Porsche Tennis Grand Prix \u2013 QF<\/td>\nJelena Ostapenko<\/td>\nIga Swiatek<\/td>\n6-3, 3-6, 6-2<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n\n2025 Qatar Open \u2013 SF<\/td>\nJelena Ostapenko<\/td>\nIga Swiatek<\/td>\n6-3, 6-1<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n\n2023 US Open \u2013 4R<\/td>\nJelena Ostapenko<\/td>\nIga Swiatek<\/td>\n3-6, 6-3, 6-1<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n\n2022 Dubai Tennis Championships \u2013 2R<\/td>\nJelena Ostapenko<\/td>\nIga Swiatek<\/td>\n4-6, 6-1, 7-6<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n\n2021 Indian Wells \u2013 4R<\/td>\nJelena Ostapenko<\/td>\nIga Swiatek<\/td>\n6-4, 6-3<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n\n2019 Birmingham \u2013 1R<\/td>\nJelena Ostapenko<\/td>\nIga Swiatek<\/td>\n6-0, 6-2<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n

Iga Swiatek and Jelena Ostapenko\u2019s head-to-head record<\/p>\n

The Pole has failed to beat Ostapenko in each of their six career meetings and has already lost to her twice in 2025.<\/p>\n

Luckily for Swiatek, it\u2019s Rybakina who she\u2019ll play in the last 16, following the Kazakh\u2019s dominant 6-2, 6-2 win over her Latvian opponent.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

Swiatek and Rybakina\u2019s head-to-head record is tied at 4-4, although momentum looks to be with the five-time Major champion, having won their two previous meetings.<\/p>\n

Only time will tell who will come out on top in their ninth encounter, when Swiatek and Rybakina battle it out for a place in the quarterfinals on Sunday, June 1.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Iga Swiatek continues to make her way through the French Open draw in search of a fourth consecutive…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":145017,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4105],"tags":[5066,23810,79,1068,48674,16,15,5069],"class_list":{"0":"post-145016","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-tennis","8":"tag-french-open","9":"tag-iga-swiatek","10":"tag-sports","11":"tag-tennis","12":"tag-tim-henman","13":"tag-uk","14":"tag-united-kingdom","15":"tag-wta"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114598710383293993","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/145016","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=145016"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/145016\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/145017"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=145016"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=145016"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=145016"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}