RANDOM THOUGHTS OF A LURKER

Iga Swiatek, the champion in Toronto!

2026-08-14T00:29:33.616-04:00

Entering Thursday, the last time Iga Swiatek defeated Elena Rybakina was last summer in Cincinnati, where she went on to win her most recent WTA 1000 title.

Until now.

Swiatek capped a stellar run in Toronto with a dominant 6-2, 6-3 win over World No. 2 Elena Rybakina in 75 minutes to claim her first title of the season -- and the 26th of her career -- at the National Bank Open. It also marks her 12 WTA 1000 crown, moving her past Aryna Sabalenka (11) for the second-most since the format debuted in 2009. She now trails only Serena Williams (13).

The victory also pushes Swiatek ahead 7-6 in their head-to-head on the WTA Tour Driven by Mercedes-Benz, snapping a two-match skid against Rybakina.

"You're such a great competitor, and it's always tough to play against you," Swiatek said during the trophy presentation. "We've played many important matches against each other, and I'm sure there are going to be many, many more."

This was the second time the two have met in a final, with both matches going Swiatek's way in straight sets. She is now 26-5 in WTA finals, the best win rate of any player with 20 or more WTA-level finals since the Tier format's introduction in 1990.

The 2026 season had been a lackluster one by Swiatek's high standards entering Toronto. She had yet to reach a final, had slipped to No. 8 in the world and was on the fringes of the WTA Finals picture. Above all else, her confidence appeared shaken.

But those afflictions seemed to evaporate the moment she stepped foot on Canadian soil.

The six-time Grand Slam champion opened her campaign with a bagel and dropped just six games across her first two matches. After a comeback win over Marta Kostyuk in the Round of 16, Swiatek returned to dominance in a 6-1, 6-2 rout of Diana Shnaider in the quarterfinals. In the semis, Swiatek avenged a pair of three-set losses to Elina Svitolina earlier this season with a three-set victory of her own to reach the championship match.

By completing the title run with a win over Rybakina, her longtime rival, it appears some of those inner -- and outer -- demons have been conquered.

"I want to dedicate this title to everyone who is dealing with unfair judgement and hate," Swiatek said. "Just keep pushing, keep growing, keep focusing on yourself because you know what's best for you. And always remember what's ahead and what might be possible."

With her triumph in Toronto, Swiatek has now captured all five significant North American titles: Indian Wells (2022, 2024), Miami (2022), US Open (2022), Cincinnati (2025) and Canada (2026).

She is also three-fourths of the way to a Career Slam, missing only an Australian Open title, and has won eight of the 10 WTA 1000s on offer -- with Dubai and Wuhan the only two she has yet to claim.

In total, Swiatek holds 19 Big Titles, including: Roland Garros (x4), US Open, Wimbledon, WTA Finals, Rome (x3), Doha (x2), Indian Wells (x2), Beijing, Canada, Cincinnati, Madrid and Miami.

She is 6-0 in Grand Slam finals, 1-0 in WTA Finals championship matches and 12-2 in WTA 1000 finals. Across those 21 matches, she has lost five games or fewer 14 times.

But your guess is as good as hers as to why she appears so unflappable with a trophy on the line.

"I don't really know because I try to approach these matches the same as the ones before. I know what I did right, and I'm just trying to continue that," Swiatek said in her post-match press conference. "I guess if I'm in the final it means that my game is good, and that gives me confidence, for sure.

"You know you need to go all in if you want to win the tournament because you're going to face the best player in the final. So just trying to focus on that."

Rybakina double-faulted twice in the opening game to hand Swiatek an early break and was unable to find her footing as the match progressed, clearly missing a step after a run to the final that included four three-setters in five matches -- the last two against Naomi Osaka and Coco Gauff, both of which required her to rally after dropping the first set.

After Swiatek took the first set in just under half an hour, Rybakina offered a brief resistance to begin the second, but Swiatek broke for 3-2 and that was all she wrote. After a forehand winner sealed a hold for 5-3, the former World No. 1 broke for the fourth and final time -- finishing with a backhand winner -- to take the title in Toronto.

As a result, Swiatek is projected to rise three spots to No. 5 in the PIF WTA Rankings and, more importantly, jump two places to No. 10 in the Race to the WTA Finals as the home stretch begins. Rybakina, meanwhile, tightened her grip on the No. 2 ranking and continued to close the gap between herself and Sabalenka in the battle to be World No. 1.

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After an 11 month title drought Iga Swiatek is back in the winners circle once more.

And what a win it tuned out to be!.

Iga took charge from the get go after Rybakina had a slow start on serve and just runaway with the first set.

Came up with absolutely brilliant shots when in trouble. Shots full of conviction that feels like we haven't seen in months.

Looked truly fearless the entire match, it's like she said to herself this title is mine and I don't care who's on the other side of the net, I'm not letting anyone take it from me.

Iga Swiatek in finals has always been a different beast, and today she reminded everyone why.

She finally remembered how pivotal her heavy topspin, patience and footwork were to her identity and success as a player.

It was never about the serve, when Iga let's her athleticism shine, everything else flows and there are very few who can stop her.

I must think that Iga's coach is in someway responsible for this awakening and for that I sincerely thank him.

Because boy did tennis need it.

I absolutely loved her victory speech, spoke from the heart about how tough things have been mainly because of criticism on the internet and media abroad but especially in our home county of Poland.

She sternly reminded all of them that in the end it is her who decides what is best despite all of their "expert" opinions.

And it became a lovely message of encouragement to players and people alike to shut out the negativity and noise and just stay true to yourself.

Bravo.

The Champion of Toronto in my adopted country, won by a woman from the country of my birth. It doesn't get sweeter than that.

Congratulations Iga, you have earned this enjoy it to the fullest!.

Hope you get at least a little breather.

See you in Cincy.

Although I honestly can't bring myself to care about that title defense right now.

Whether it happens or not kind of doesn't matter, because Iga has just proven she's back where she belongs.

Whatever happens next feels like icing on the cake.

Jazda!

Iga Swiatek makes first final in Toronto, and the first final of the season

2026-08-13T16:29:54.151-04:00

Iga Swiatek knew what she needed to do against Elina Svitolina at the National Bank Open on Wednesday night to reach her first final on the WTA Tour Driven by Mercedes-Benz in nearly a year.

Facing a third set against the Ukrainian for a third time in three 2026 meetings, Swiatek found "the right rhythm" to complete her first win against Svtiolina in those three matches, as well as advance to her 14th career WTA 1000 final, 6-3, 1-6, 6-3.

The six-time Grand Slam singles champion admitted to losing her grip on the level that nabbed her an early lead in the rain-delayed semifinal match, which started nearly an hour later than expected. But after letting Svitolina "play her game" in the second set and early in the third, Swiatek was happy with how she settled down to come from a break down in the decider and complete the victory in 2 hours and 17 minutes.

"Against Elina, it's always tough, so I'm happy that I won this one," Swiatek said in her post-match press conference. "Especially that I came back in the third set playing better. So that's for sure a big improvement.

"Mostly I just wanted to adjust the quality. Because tactics can't do much if you're just not hitting the ball right. I knew I can do it, because I did it in the first set. I had it in me ... I'm happy that I was patient enough to do that and didn't get disappointed or didn't give up, and just found a way to play better in the third."

Increasing pace and depth helped, she said. Swiatek nearly matched her total of winners in the first two sets combined (14) with her third-set total (13).

"If I want to win a semifinal where you know your opponent is playing good, I need to step up, and there's no looking back," she said. "You kind of start from the beginning when we start the third set. It doesn't matter what happened in the second, I know what to do in the third, and I just needed to follow that."

After failing to win a three-set match against a Top 20 player all season prior to arriving at Sobeys Stadium, Swiatek has won two to reach the final in Canada for the first time -- having also done so against Marta Kostyuk in the fourth round. Her efforts so far, she says, has reaffirmed in an up-and-down season that she is still up for the fight in challenging moments.

"It hasn't been an easy season, probably the toughest one in my life on-court," Swiatek said. "This week has been really positive and inspirational for me. It always kind of shows that you need to keep going no matter what."

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Well I guess my good feeling was correct.

What a match!.

Iga started great out of the gate and just did not let Svitolina breathe. For a while there it looked like she might even get a bagel.

She did what she's been doing so great all week long stayed patient and rallied with Svitolina (with some absolutely breathtaking display of athleticism). She stayed in the rallies and didn't bail out and try to end them early by overhitting from the baseline.

Svitolina being Svitolina raised her level and fought back in the 2nd and went up a break, in the 3rd.

Despite that Iga kept fighting, she didn't get frustrated to the point of losing her compose and and focus. She found a way back from the brink.

I'll be honest even I thought the match was over at that point. But Iga found that 6 time Grand Slam champion mentality, she recovered and won the match proving me wrong once again.

She won against Svitolina in slow night time conditions something that's not easy to do against a great counterpuncher like her.

Iga snatched this match from Svitolina with true grit, quality and resilience, something that has felt missing in her game for months now.

Feels apt that Iga found her level in a place where 18 year old Iga found belief that she could be a top ten player and belong in the sport.(2019 Toronto semi vs Wozniacki).

This match felt like such a huge mental turning point, I'd say even more so than against Kostyuk. There she had an awful first set and came back from a set down.

Here Iga won after getting a 1 set advantage, having a big dip in the 2nd and recovering a break in the 3rd.

For someone like Iga who's a great front runner, that's often proved so much harder to do especially of late.

The Iga of 2 months ago probably would have lost.

A massive change.

The kind of change that might give her back that locker room aura again, and make all her opponents start fearing her before they step out on court.

So a final with Rybakina awaits.

Pretty much as hard as it gets with one of the best servers on tour.

But Rybakina's route to the final has not been without struggles.

She's had a lot of 3 setters (with a lot of unforced errors), and an awful lot of time on court. That coupled with the 1am finish last night might be something Iga can use to her advantage.

Along with keeping Rybakina on the move and staying close with her on serve.

Really lovely vocal crowd support for Iga last night (minus the one guy who wouldn't shut up between serves because there's always one).

Must have felt so good for Iga after all the struggles she's been though and the criticism she's faced the past 11 months.

This win the affirmation that the work she's been doing with her new coach and team is working.

Talk about going a long way towards self belief too.

Brawo Iga.

Go for it tonight.

Jazda!.

14 - Iga Swiatek has reached a 14th WTA-1000 final from 47 main draws entered – since the format’s introduction in 2009, Swiatek (29.8%, 14/47) trails only Serena Williams (38.3%) and Maria Sharapova (32.0%) for rate of finals reached. Perspective.

3 - Iga Swiatek has claimed three WTA top 20 wins at a single event for the first time since claiming tournament victory at Roland Garros in 2024 (Marketa Vondrousova, Coco Gauff, Jasmine Paolini). Scalps.

31st career final, going for 12th WTA 1000 title

Has now made at least Finals at 9/10 WTA 1000 events (just missing Wuhan & only played it once).

Iga is just one Australian Open and one Wuhan away from making the finals or better at the 15 biggest tournaments in the world. Still only 25 years old.

Iga Swiatek plays her best match to reach semis in Toronto

2026-08-10T00:18:00.000-04:00

Iga Swiatek hasn’t had the season she’s accustomed to, but there have been signs lately that she’s finding her best tennis again. Monday night in Toronto offered another one.

The No. 7 seed overwhelmed No. 15 seed Diana Shnaider -- who was coming off a win over Jessica Pegula-- in their Toronto quarterfinal, dropping just three games in a 6-2, 6-1 rout that lasted 64 minutes.

"I've been feeling good on the court. I know how much I practiced and what we did [during] the practices," Swiatek said in her on-court interview. "This is giving me confidence. It's just a matter of being in a good place that day and using it. So I'm trying to do my best every day, keep my routines, be really focused, and for sure, I'm really happy to be in a semifinal."

With the win, Swiatek improved to 2-0 against Shnaider at the WTA Tour Driven by Mercedes-Benz level and advanced to her 23rd WTA 1000 semifinal. Since the format's introduction in 2009, only Serena Williams (53.1%) has reached a higher rate of semifinals than Swiatek (48.9%). Only three players have reached more WTA 1000 semifinals than Swiatek -- Simona Halep (29), Serena Williams (26) and Victoria Azarenka (24). She's tied with Agnieszka Radwanska at 23.

Swiatek's path to this latest semifinal hasn't been without drama -- see her Round of 16 win over Marta Kostyuk-- but Monday night was stress-free. She broke in the opening game, dominated on serve and broke again for 5-2 as Shnaider unraveled under a string of forehand errors, the last of which handed Swiatek the opening set.

The second set saw more of the same. Shnaider produced flashes, but Swiatek broke for 2-1 and never looked back. She won the final six games and crossed the finish line a few minutes past the one-hour mark.

"Today I just followed the plan. I was really focused. I feel like I'm for sure better focused," Swiatek said in her post-match press conference. "I'm able to follow the plan a little bit easier because I feel the ball well on my racket. It's a nice tournament where there's not much fuss around, you can really focus on your job. I just have a good time on court."

Here are the numbers to know behind Swiatek's dominant quarterfinal victory.

0: Break points faced. Swiatek wasn't threatened on serve, never facing a break point and rarely landing in tight spots across seven service games.

8: Unforced errors. While Shnaider struggled to keep the ball in play, Swiatek was squeaky clean. Her eight unforced errors are her fewest in a match this season.

10: Out of 11. With semifinals now in both Toronto and Montreal, Swiatek has reached the last four at 10 of the 11 current WTA 1000 event locations. Wuhan is the lone exception.

67.8: Winning percentage against Top 20 players. Since 1990, only Steffi Graf (82.1%), Serena Williams (75.3%), Monica Seles (70.4%) and Martina Hingis (67.9%) have a higher career win rate against Top 20 opponents.

88.5: Percent of first-serve points won. Swiatek won 23 of 26 first-serve points, her best mark of the season.

In the semis, Swiatek will face No. 9 seed Elina Svitolina, who rallied from a set down to defeat No. 16 seed Ekaterina Alexandrova 3-6, 6-0, 6-3 in 1 hour and 33 minutes in Monday's second quarterfinal.

She has won four of seven career meetings against Svitolina, though the Ukrainian claimed both of their matchups this season -- in Indian Wells and Rome -- in three sets.

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This was Iga's best match of the season on hardcourt and maybe even in general this year.

She mentioned in post match that the Kostyuk match was that for her and it was in part because she finally showed belief and started playing her game again.

But this was her best match from a level perspective. From beginning to end she served well, returned well, and moved well.

She looked self assured on her shots and stayed in the zone concentration wise all the way though. There were no 2nd set level dips in sight. It was an emphatic 64 minute straight sets win.

I've mentioned in past blog posts how I've been waiting for Iga's game to start clicking and that in time it would. The Kostyuk match definitely feels like the catalyst of just that.

For the first time in months I was actually able to watch an Iga match stress free because she looked comfortable on court and everything looked like it flowed.

The majority of which has to be attributed to the calmness and patience on court. It has really allowed her to construct, control and extend rallies better,

And of course using her movement and return skills. Something that has felt sorely lacking in her game since last year.

The stress would make her panic so much she would completely forget about her footwork and revert to ball bashing and over hitting from the back of the baseline. Feels like in this tournament she has rediscovered certain skills again.

It could be all the extra time she had to train with her new coach after Wimbledon, allowed her to work on those things and it's paying dividends

Or it could also be as she herself has admitted the simple fact of the pressure being off. The pressure of not being a 4 time Roland Garros Champ on clay and the Wimbledon defending champion as well. With that part of the season finally behind her.

Whatever the case I hope it continues because it has allowed her to play more clearly and problem solve. Any tournament where Iga sticks around to the end is all the better for it.

Iga's next opponent Svitolina will test everything I just talked about, but if Iga can continue implementing things the way she has this entire week I think she just might get the win.

The win over Shnaider matched Iga's best result in Canada having reached the semis of Montreal a few years back. Also making this just her second semi final of the year.

Words can't express how badly I want this win for her. Especially given Svitolina has been the one to stop Iga's momentum form-wise twice this year. In matches where to be honest Iga didn't put up much of a challenge.

A win would also give her the first final of the year which would be a crucial confidence booster before the last Slam of the season not to mention the rest of the year and beyond.

Night conditions will probably favor Svitolina, and Iga will no doubt be made to work hard. But I don't know I have a good feeling about this one, I think she'll keep a cool head and finally prevail.

Jazda!

Iga Swiatek battles past Kostyuk to make the quarterfinals in Toronto

2026-08-09T01:05:20.790-04:00

A three-set win for Iga Swiatek against Marta Kostyuk on Saturday didn't just put the former World No. 1 into the quarterfinals of the National Bank Open for a second time. It also snapped one of the most notable droughts on the WTA Tour Driven by Mercedes-Benz.

Swiatek had lost her last seven three-set matches against Top 20 players dating back to last September -- and she would've had reason to despair after losing the first set against Kostyuk from twice being a break ahead. But instead, the six-time Grand Slam singles champion rebounded in a big way -- and never lost serve in the second and third sets to score a 3-6, 6-1, 6-2 victory.

In all, Swiatek saved nine break points across the second and third sets to score any kind of Top 20 win for the first time since the Internazionali BNL d'Italia in May: three at 2-0, and three more when she served for the set. The tension of the moment was later evident in a five-deuce final game, where she needed six match points -- and saved two break points -- to wrap up the win in just over 2 hours.

Afterward, Swiatek confessed she "knew [she] could play better" after a first set where the two players combined for seven service breaks -- and focused on being "more brave."

"In the second I came out ... playing a bit faster and more heavy, and pushing Marta a little bit more," she said. "I knew I can, you know, keep being solid while doing that. So then, like, game by game I felt like it was a good plan and a good choice, and I went for it."

The effort also snapped Kostyuk's winning streak in three-set matches. She had won her last seven dating back to a first-round loss to Elsa Jacquemot at the Australian Open in January, where she suffered an ankle injury.

Swiatek will next face No. 15 seed Diana Shnaider, who scored a milestone of her own by beating Jessica Pegul.

The 6-3, 6-3 win for Shnaider against the two-time champion was her first in five attempts and reversed the result of their semifinal match at the Mubadala DC Open last week.

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Where do I even start with this one.

Wild feels like an understatement.

I have seen a lot of Iga matches over the past 6 years, but what I witnessed in that first set was something else.

I mean Iga literally won 1 point on serve.

One.

She hang in it simply with great returns, but just could not hold serve every time she got the advantage.

Once she lost that first set things looked really bleak. I thought, oh no here we go now Iga is just going to crumble and start overhitting and this will be Roland Garros all over again.

But I have never been happier to be so very wrong.

Iga kept her focus, composure and most importantly patience and instead started playing more aggressive rather than passive.

She made Marta self destruct (something that's been mostly happening to her of late).

She did it by cutting down her unforced errors, with her forehand, some absolutely vintage returning and sliding (oh how I've missed her defensive sliding!).

It really felt like the Iga of old (which might seem like I've said a lot lately) but this time truly felt like it.

Especially because she did it when things weren't going her way and she was a set down in a pretty horrendous way.

Iga of earlier this year would have just given up.

But here she really problem solved and kept fighting just refused to give up even after losing 3 match points and having to finish it on her 6th.

That refusal to lose felt like Grand Slam champion mentality again.

I think I'm most proud of the way she didn't take her foot of the pedal when she got the momentum and just forced Marta to feel all the pressure by simply extending rallies and playing solid.

I realize I'm overexcited because I just missed her tennis so much and that anything could happen still, but this felt like such an enormous stepping stone.

It was just her 3rd three set comeback this year, and you could see by the emotional roar at the end of the match just how much it meant to her.

Things will get very interesting now as the expected seeded opponent Pegula lost to Schneider for the first time and the world #1 Aryna Sabalenka was upset as well.

There would still be the challenge of Svitolina most likely, but we take it one match at a time and just ravel in the breath of fresh air that was this comeback match.

A well deserved win.

Avenging that Roland Garros loss feels pretty damn sweet too.

Jazda!.

4 - Iga Swiatek has become the third player since the format’s introduction in 2009 to reach 4+ WTA-1000 quarter-finals in 5+ consecutive years (2022-2026) after Agnieszka Radwanska (2009-2014) and Simona Halep (2014-2019). Constancy.

61.7 - Iga Swiatek has now the best percentage of WTA-1000 quarter-finals reached (61.7%, 29/47), surpassing Serena Williams (61.2%, 30/49) since the format’s introduction in 2009. Area.

29 - Only Agnieszka Radwanska (35) has made more WTA-1000 quarter-finals than Iga Swiatek (29) before turning 26 years old since the format’s introduction in 2009.

Iga Swiatek scores another solid win in Toronto

2026-08-06T01:08:00.000-04:00

For the second round in a row, No. 7 seed Iga Swiatek conceded just three games to advance at the National Bank Open. The 2023 semifinalist sped past Viktorija Golubic 6-2, 6-1 in 66 minutes to book her place in the fourth round.1d ago

Golubic occupies a rare place in Swiatek's career lore: she's the only player who has ever defeated the Pole in the first round of a Grand Slam. But that was back at Wimbledon 2019, when Swiatek was just 18 years old. The former World No. 1 has not lost to Golubic in three matches since, and conceded just five games to her in their last two encounters.

"For sure it was a good day, and I'm really happy with the way I played," Swiatek said in her on-court interview. "Even though the first game wasn't super smooth, I knew I can start from the beginning, and then it went my way and I could find my rhythm."

Swiatek will next face either No. 10 seed Marta Kostyuk or No. 19 seed Madison Keysas she bids to reach her second quarterfinal in Canada.

Drop shots provide highlights for both: Though Swiatek dropped serve in the first game of the match, once she had broken back immediately the contest was largely one-way traffic. The six-time major champion landed 18 winners to Golubic's five and conceded just 14 points on serve -- including that opening break.

But there were still some spectacular moments from both players to entertain the Toronto crowd. Golubic came up with the first, delivering enthralling variety and finishing with a half-volleyed pickup pass in a 25-stroke first-set exchange to hold for the first time. Swiatek may have been inspired: the 25-year-old has eschewed the drop shot for many years, but she came up with a brilliant one en route to breaking Golubic for 2-0 in the second set.

For the most part, though, Swiatek managed to keep a lid on Golubic's variety and shotmaking abilities.

"I think I played back her slice pretty well, so the change of rhythm didn't bother me that much," she said in her press conference. "I tried to pick the right balls to attack because I was controlling the pace, it was just about the decision making."

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Another good win for Iga today, sure Golubic doesn't really have any weapons to hurt Iga but she can be tricky with all the different spins and speeds of the ball.

I thought Iga handled it superbly, she was patient, in extended rallies and waited for the right shot to finish instead of rushing as she has been of late.

Something her and her new coach had the chance to work on and it showed.

That patience is something she's going to need in her next match against Kostyuk who'll definitely force her to rush and take her time away.

While Kostyuk was impressive in her match against Keys, she definitely wasn't in her first match of this tournement and had quite a few double faults.

As good a season as Kostyuk has had she's still prone to having these kind of performances, but regardless of which version shows up on Saturday I have a good feeling about it.

I think Iga might just get the chance for some revenge over Roland Garros this year.

Iga kept her focus all the way though the match as well which was a very encouraging sign.

Kostyuk will be the true litmus test of this tournament.

If Iga can get past her, the entire rest of this season might just have some hope for good things to come and that her work really is showing some progress.

But even if she doesn't as long as I see Iga really fighting and problem solving it'll feel like a win, because at Roland Garros Iga just seemed helpless and give up.

I'm feeling cautiously optimistic about this one.

Jazda Iga!

Iga Swiatek starts Toronto return with a win

2026-08-05T00:06:21.899-04:00

Playing her first match of the Hard-Court Swing, Iga Swiatek raced out to a 6-0, 3-0 lead over Sara Bejlek in just 45 minutes -- but had to battle for nearly another hour to finish off the valiant Czech 6-0, 6-3 in 1 hour and 34 minutes.

"For sure it was a good match, and a good start of the hard-court season," Swiatek told reporters afterward. "I'm happy with the level. The first set I was playing with a lot of confidence and very straightforward, so for sure a good one. Then, in second, parts of that were kind of the same as first. But there were for sure a few tricky games, especially the long one. I haven't played a game like that in some time, so I'm happy that I won it and I was solid at the end, so for sure a good match."

The pair had already met in the second round of Roland Garros this year -- and though Swiatek won that encounter 6-2, 6-3, she noted afterwards that Bejlek's speed and variety had made it a "tricky match." It was little surprise that the No. 7 seed came out of the blocks sharp, winning a superb cat-and-mouse exchange on the very first point and then hammering a return winner for an immediate break of the Bejlek serve.

That set the stage for a dominant opening set in which Swiatek fired seven winners, committed only three unforced errors and conceded just 11 points in total. As she advanced to a point to hold for 4-0 in the second set, the possibility of her first 6-0, 6-0 victory since defeating Amanda Anisimova in the 2025 Wimbledon final loomed.

Hot shots and a 13-deuce tussle: Swiatek passed up the 4-0 opportunity by netting a forehand -- and Bejlek, who had been switching up her tactics with drop shots and net play in a bid to get a foothold in the match, seized her opportunity to create some momentum. The World No. 38, who claimed her first WTA title in Abu Dhabi in February, won the best point of the match in the next game, an enthralling 19-stroke exchange in which she did not give Swiatek the same shot twice, and finished with an angled backhand pass.

With Swiatek's lead cut to 3-2, the Polish star had to battle through a marathon 13-deuce game to prevent Bejlek from leveling the score. It featured both spectacular winners and cheap mistakes as both players' form oscillated; Swiatek managed to save nine break points before finally converting her sixth game point as Bejlek sent a forehand long.

"Honestly, I didn't know it was that long," Swiatek said. "When I was playing, I didn't really feel that. But for sure I knew that she missed some opportunities, I missed some opportunities. I really wanted to be solid for just two points in a row to win it, because at the end that's what you need to win a game when it's like deuce/advantage, deuce/advantage, you know. I knew that I can for sure use the opportunities, because two or three of them I just missed, it was my mistake. I knew that I can just come back to being solid, and she helped me a little bit to close it."

Having emerged from that tussle, Swiatek managed to get over the line safely, sealing her third match point when a dead net cord went in her favor. However, her tally of 24 unforced errors in the second set is a statistic she'll aim to improve on when she faces Viktorija Golubic, who upset No. 31 seed Donna Vekic 5-7, 6-2, 6-3, in the third round.

wtatennis.com

First set felt like vintage Iga. 2nd set things got a bit complicated in the 6th game. But the fact that Iga won a crazy 21 minute game saving 9 break points felt encouraging.

Sure some might say that it was a lack of focus, the forehand completely going off and rushing once her opponent picked up her level.

But I'm choosing to look at the positives, because for 9 games Iga was flawless.

And I just missed her on tour so damn much.

Winning that game might give her some belief that she can still really hang in there even when things start to go awry as long as she stays calm and problem solves.

The first 9 games remined me how she still truly is one of the best returners on tour.

And when everything is clicking, forehand, serve etc she still is just an absolute treat to watch.

I'm genuinely looking forward to watching her more this week.

Welcome back Iga.

40 - Iga Swiatek hs claimed her 40th set with 6-0 score line in Tier1/WTA-1000 events, only Martina Hingis (52) and Serena Williams (50) would have more since the format's introduction in 1990. Fire.

2 - Since the WTA-1000 format’s introduction in 2009, only Serena Williams (80.4%) holds a better career winning percentage than Iga Swiatek (79.8%, 139-35) in such events. Marching.

WTA to Require Genetic Sex Testing for All Players

2026-08-03T00:20:00.000-04:00

Big news to break here on Bounces today, at the messy intersection of women’s sports and gender issues.

Bounces can report that the Women’s Tennis Association has enacted a policy requiring that all WTA players must undergo genetic sex testing in order to maintain their eligibility to compete on the WTA Tour.

While there are zero known transgender women currently active at any level of professional women’s tennis—and there haven’t been any for nearly half a century—the phantom threat of trans women in women’s sports has gained traction in recent years, primarily as a moral panic fomented by Republican lawmakers and pundits seeking a culture-war wedge issue for political benefit.

Now, in a decision that may reflect a political shift in the organization, the WTA Board has decided to heed the movement’s growing traction within sports.

Starting this month, the WTA is taking the unprecedented step of requiring all of its players to undergo genetic testing to weed out any women who may have a specific genetic marker that suggests traces of male biology. This, as far as my research has shown, will make the WTA the first independent professional women’s sports league or tour to mandate such genetic screening for all of its athletes.1

“I acknowledge that if I fail to undergo [genetic sex testing] as requested by the WTA or compete in a WTA Tournament in which I, to my knowledge, am ineligible to compete under this Eligibility Policy, the WTA may take disciplinary action against me…I further acknowledge and agree that such action may result in (among other things) a specified period of ineligibility to participate in WTA Tournaments, which may lead to the reason for my ineligibility becoming public knowledge or being the subject of public speculation.” —Fragment of new document which must be signed by all WTA players.

benrothenberg.com

What absolute BS. Hey WTA you want to protect women sports and women themselves?.

How about instead of policing women's bodies you spend your money and resources on weeding out the abusive coaches and players on both tours who are allowed to play and be around women.

How about implementing a better system for dealing with online harassment and death threats they face on a daily basis when they lose.

How about promoting them and paying them the same amount of money as the men.

Because this?.

Just another smoke screen trying to take away from the actual real issues that women in sports face today.

Absolute nonsense.

Iga Swiatek puts up a valiant effort but falls short of Wimbledon defense

2026-07-04T22:32:40.360-04:00

First set turned out to be key to the whole match (as it usually is).

Iga will definitely have some regrets not being able to keep the minibreak and having a set point in the tiebreaker.

Once she lost the first set the match went pretty quickly with Eala breaking straight away.

I did see some improvement with Iga fighting in the 2nd set and getting the break back even having chances to get back on serve. But it was a bit too little too late.

Iga getting the fist set back into a tiebreak after getting broken and Eala serving for it was encouraging as well.

The whole set had plenty of quality points and rallies (amongst the errors) Iga's game is still definitely there but the confidence and conviction in her shots is not.

I suppose it's hard to be that way when you've mostly suffered losses for the entirety of this first half of the season.

Despite another straight sets loss, the first set did give me hope that champion Iga is still in there she just has to believe in herself again.

Lot's of theories and opinions on what Iga should do next as usual.

But once again only Iga knows the answer so there's really no point speculating.

I had fairly low expectation going into this given how her season has gone. I'm still a little sad and disappointed but not at the usual level.

Because I know Iga is struggling, and she's trying hard to find herself again.

I won't say it hasn't been tough to watch her as a fan going through these struggles because it really has (sometimes I just want to give her a big hug and say it'll all be ok)

I also realize it's entirely possible that finding her game again may take the rest of this year.

Above all I just want Iga to find some joy in tennis again. If she can find even half the level she had, it'll help her win matches and get that confidence back.

I hope she has a nice break before returning on the hard court swing,

I know she'll probably spend part of that time looking for a second coach (as she said she would after Wimbledon). I wish her all the best with that.

Hopefully whoever she decides on will help her.

I do wish for the media and her fans to be more kind to her, she's already her own worst critic and puts enough pressure on herself as it is.

Everyone needs to remind themselves that Iga is human and a little support instead of constant ridicule might go a long way.

I'm really proud of Iga for making it through the first round and trying her best in subsequent matches despite the low confidence, win rate and all that.

She still is and always will be a Wimbledon and 6 time Grand Slam Champion.

Whatever else no one can take that away.

At only 25 she has plenty of time to improve and figure things out. When she does it'll all click for her again.

Till than we wait and we believe.

Jazda!

Iga Swiatek back into Wimbledon 3rd round

2026-07-02T22:47:31.269-04:00

Only the mediocre are always at their best. So said (as of course we all know) Jean Giraudoux, 20th century French novelist, essayist, diplomat and playwright. And six-time Grand Slam champion Iga Swiatek is anything but mediocre, as we all also know.

But it can safely be said that the Pole has not been at her absolute best in the opening two rounds of her title defence, despite the assured-looking scoreline of her 6-1, 6-3 second-round victory over 2021 runner-up here Karolina Pliskova.

All the same, it was an improvement on the difficulties of her opener against Taylor Townsend on Tuesday – no sets conceded and especially no juddering tears of relief this time from Swiatek. It helped that the pre-match danger threatened by Pliskova’s career-long grass-court smarts materialised only fleetingly.

If what matters the most is moving forward from each match carrying only the positives with you, then victory will do very well for Swiatek here.

There can’t be too much wrong with holding break points in every Pliskova service game. Yet the Pole still stacked up 18 unforced errors in this match, at times in unseemly clumps. Any repeat in upcoming rounds could create disaster as the quality of opposition ticks upward.

But it was a smiling – not crying – Swiatek who addressed the Centre Court crowd after her victory.

“I’m feeling more stable today, and that’s good,” she said. “The first round was really emotional but today felt like another day in the office. I needed to be ready, be sharp and make good decisions.

“It’s always better when you’re able to think like that. I was consistent and had a good level of focus. I just believed I could be the most solid player on court. I try to be the best player I can be.”

On learning Martina Navratilova graded her performance A-plus in commentary, Swiatek appeared startled, perhaps with that unforced error count in mind.

“I don’t know,” she said. “More like B, I would say.”

wimbledon.com

A much better match.

Iga looked more self assured on her shots and definitely more relaxed. First match defending champion jitters were definitely the culprit.

Pliskova's lack of movement allowed Iga to play more of her game too.

It only gets tougher from here though.

Next round will be the real test given how well Eala is playing.

But if Iga prepares well tactically I think she might do alight.

Could be a close one.

Jazda!

Iga Swiatek this decade: 26 Slam appearances 26 times in the third round

26 - Iga Swiatek is the third player in the Open Era to reach the Round of 32 for 26+ consecutive Women’s Singles Grand Slam events after Martina Navratilova (35) and Conchita Martinez (30). Rule.

Defending Wimbledon Champion Iga Swiatek fights through first round jitters

2026-07-01T00:28:57.589-04:00

Defending champion Iga Swiatek admitted to her joy and relief after surviving a huge scare to win her opening match on Centre Court.

The Polish star won her final 20 games last year to lift her sixth Grand Slam title. And walking on to Centre Court at precisely 1.30pm, as tradition dictates, the No.3 seed seemed ready to turn back the clock after a troubled season by winning the opening set in only 31 minutes.

But cheered on by her friends Naomi Osaka and Katerina Siniakova, the American doubles specialist fought back to level the match and force a deciding set in an enthralling contest.

And despite sending down a total of nine double faults, Swiatek showed the mettle of a champion to triumph 6-1, 2-6, 6-3 in two hours and two minutes.

Swiatek thus avoided becoming only the third defending Wimbledon ladies’ champion in the Open era to lose in the first round, after Steffi Graf in 1994 and Marketa Vondrousova in 2024.

But after failing to progress beyond a Grand Slam quarter-final since Wimbledon last year - and losing her only warm-up event on grass - the Pole showed rare emotion in her post-match interview in front of a supportive Centre Court crowd. This included her father, Tomasz, and sister Agata in the Royal Box.

“It has been a tough couple of weeks,” Swiatek said. “It is not a season where everything has gone how I wanted. I don’t think I won any three-set matches this year (NB she won in one in Rome). So, I am happy I could do it here because obviously it means a lot, opening the court as defending champion.

“I am happy I was able to get through a match like that because I got quite tense in the second set. I was able to come back to my game. These are the moments that you feel you did the job because it is not hard when everything goes your way and you are so confident that everything goes in."

This first meeting between the Pole and the American left-hander was anything but consistent.

Swiatek’s sequence of winning games here came to a swift end when Townsend showed her attacking intent with a clean forehand winner on her way to holding her opening service game.

At deuce in the seventh game, Townsend attempted to serve-and-volley and Swiatek smashed a return to her tennis shoes. She took her first set point after a little over half an hour with a forehand pass as the American rushed the net again in vain.

The momentum changed again in the opening game of the second set when a Swiatek double fault and a weak backhand helped Townsend break for the first time. A fine rally featuring a Swiatek tweener and an American volleyed winner caused the biggest cheer of the day as the world No.79 raced into a 4-0 lead. The defending champion made 16 errors before Townsend took the second set with an ace after 70 minutes. It was the first set dropped by Swiatek here since the second round last year, against another American, Caty McNally.

Amid rising tension, the 21-minute opening game of the final set proved psychologically crucial at a time when Swiatek looked in real trouble. With Townsend sometimes standing two yards inside the baseline to receive, Swiatek sent down three double faults but also saved four break points before the American dumped a service return into the net on the 24th point.

The pair still had time to trade breaks before a Polish forehand pass helped her break again, to lead 5-3, and she sealed her nervy win with an ace.

Asked about the first game of the decider, Swiatek smiled: “Sometimes just serving the ball in might be a tough ask. This game for sure was about that and believing that I can do it. It was long and had many break points.

“In the end, I am happy I kept my composure. I was listening to my box and they were supporting me a lot. I knew I needed to be solid and not look for winners or serves that would give me points. Play more safe, play rallies. I am happy in the end that this game went well because I think it was crucial. On to the next one.”

wimbledon.com

This match was as tough to watch as it was for Iga to play I think.

A lot of old demons reared their head with winning the first set convincingly then losing the 2nd and having to battle in the 3rd.

I did see some encouraging signs as well with Iga saving 5 break points from love 40 (feels like it's been a long while since she has shown this type of fight).

She actually won a 20 minute game during which I think I lost about 5 years off my life :D.

Yes there were still many double faults an unusual amount in fact so the serve is still very much a work in progress.

But quite of few of those derived from the stress of being the defending champion and playing first up in only your 2nd grass court match of the season (having lost in the first round of Bad Homburg the week prior).

I certainly hope that's all it was because it truly broke my heart to see Iga so emotional at the end of the match and sobbing into her towel.

She's clearly trying so hard, and she and others put her under so much pressure and scrutiny. I'm sure it feels like she's carrying the entirety of Poland on her back, (as she so often has).

Whatever else happens in this tournament for Iga I'm just so damn glad she avoided a first round exit and I hope letting out some of those emotions helped to relieve some of that pressure.

Maybe it'll help her to play just a little bit freer in the next round.

Things will only get tougher draw wise, but at this point I just want Iga to rediscover some belief in her game again, just trust herself a little more.

If she can find some joy along the way all the better.

Hang n there Iga trust the process, good and bad your fans are with you.

Jazda!.

Iga Swiatek suffers earliest loss at Roland Garros since 2019

2026-05-31T21:32:18.198-04:00

2026 marks the first Roland Garros where I honestly regretted setting my alarm for 5 am to watch Iga.

It's always been something I looked forward to and couldn't wait for. But that was not the case today.

Today I wish I had just slept through it.

I can't even say I feel disappointed because, the overwhelming feeling is actually sadness. Sadness for the way things used to be vs the way they are now.

And I realize I once again raised my expectations way too high knowing Iga's confidence is nowhere near where it should or could be, but it's hard not to do that when she's set the standard so high over the years.

Afterall she did win Wimbledon out of the blue last year along with 2 other titles.

The belief in her is always there regardless of evidence to the contrary. The way it always used to be for me with Roger Federer.

That's what legends do they make you believe. And despite her loss today Iga will always be that.

A Legend.

Even if she were to never win another Slam again.

Today felt a bit like watching Rafa at his peak vs when he was past his prime. But I know that she will be back, because unlike Rafa her career has barely begun and despite what some may think she's not even in her prime (she literally turned 25 on this very day).

I honestly think people forget sometimes just how young she was when she reached the height of her successes. She was just 19 when she won the first Roland Garros.

Right now though it's very evident that there's still a lot of work to be done in terms of getting back that mental toughness she had as a 19 year old and onward.

I'm not going to talk about her sports psychologist or team or whatever else because I feel like I've done that ad nauseam this year.

Everyone online has really, but at the end of the day that's all it is talk and opinions.

Only Iga knows what she needs and how to solve the issues she's having. And I think it's wise to remember that it'll take time and that as Iga herself admitted in her post match interview it may not happen in a month or even this year.

It is interesting that she's considering hiring a 2nd coach after Wimbledon (which does makes sense given Roig has a serious injury and it's hard for him to travel everywhere).

Iga does need someone who will be with her all year round.

Having 2 coaches is certainly not a new concept, Jannik Sinner has had 2 for a while and it's working well for him.

Maybe this is something Iga can also benefit from. She still needs someone to help her rediscover her belief in herself, her game and maybe most importantly her serve because it really let her down again today.

Hard to put pressure on any opponent if you can't get free points yourself with the one weapon you can control.

The saddest part about today might be not just the way she lost, (basically giving the match away after leading twice in the 1st set) but also the way she went out with a whimper instead of a fight.

In a place that she dominated for years, a place she absolutely loves and celebrates her Birthdays at.

Must have felt like an absolute gut punch.

I want to stay positive for Wimbledon but I don't know that the pressure of being the defending champion will do her any favors at this point.

She's as low as can be and not even a good draw will help with that. If the belief in her game isn't there everything else falls apart.

And 3 weeks doesn't feel like nearly enough time to find any solutions temporary or long term.

It's really too bad I was looking forward to the possibility that someone might finally defend the Wimbledon title (which hasn't happened since Serena Williams in the 2010's)

She may still surprise, in sport you just never know but there are just too many doubts at the moment.

I do believe she'll comeback stronger yet, because as I've said many times in the past someone with her talent is too good not to.

But we'll all just have to be patient as she goes through the process.

Hope she at least got to spend her Birthday surrounded by the people she loves, and that she remembers that there are a lot of people out there grateful that she exists.

And that without her Poland never would have gotten a Grand Slam champion and certainly not a multiple one.

So Happy Birthday Iga, hope you rest up and enjoy yourself a bit before the sport makes demands of you again.

See you on the grass.

Jazda!.

Iga Swiatek back in the 2nd week of Roland Garros

2026-05-29T21:14:00.000-04:00

Four-time champion Iga Swiatek is looking like her old, dominant self in Paris.

The Pole moved through her third-round clash with compatriot Magda Linette on Friday afternoon on Court Chatrier, pulling away after a tense opening eight games, to book her eighth trip to the second week on the Parisian clay, 6-4, 6-4.

Tension rippled through the encounter in the early stages, with Linette angling for her second consecutive win over Swiatek after defeating her in three sets in Miami in March. After falling behind 2-0, Swiatek settled in and methodically gained the upper hand.

The six-time major champion clocked a fizzing forehand winner for a break for 5-4 then prevailed in one of the longest rallies of the match a game later to lock down the opening set, 6-4.

Noticeably bossing the rallies, Swiatek showed signs of her former self as she ratcheted up the spin and trajectory of her forehand to put Linette on a string in her backcourt.

“Iga’s forehand looks much different today than it was in the first few rounds of this tournament,” said three-time major champion Lindsay Davenport, who commentated the match for TNT. “She’s able to hit through the court more effectively, she’s up at almost 3000 rpms – that is a lot.”

According to graphics shown during the broadcast, Swiatek is finding nine centimetres more net clearance on her forehand this year, compared with last year, and she is delivering approximately 160 more rpms off that devastating forehand wing.

After claiming the opener, Swiatek raced out to a double-break lead, but 73rd-ranked Linette answered back, recapturing one of the breaks for 2-4 and holding for 3-4 to put pressure back on Swiatek.

Swiatek, the consummate frontrunner on the terre battue, closed the books on Linette in an hour and 25 minutes, finishing the match with two consecutive holds of serve. The 24-year-old remains undefeated at Roland-Garros after claiming the opening set, winning 39 such matches, and 37 of those 39 in straight sets.
Kostyuk next

The 2020, 2022, 2023 and 2024 champion improves to 43-3 lifetime at Roland-Garros and sets an enticing round of 16 clash with Ukrainian Marta Kostyuk, who will carry a 14-0 record on clay into their fourth career meeting.

Swiatek has won the previous three, including a 6-3, 6-4 triumph in Paris in 2021 in their only clay court meeting.
Forehand firing up

Though she had some struggles on serve during Friday’s contest, Swiatek can take comfort in the fact that her forehand is now firing on all cylinders.

“She’s getting back to playing more clay-court style tennis, not trying to outhit big hitters, but using the bounce and using her topspin to do a lot of the work on the clay,” Davenport said.

1993 women’s singles finalist Mary Joe Fernandez was also impressed.

“It gives her more safety, so she has more margin for error, and it also gives her more time to set up the next shot, when she hits higher over the net,” said the American, also a TNT commentator. “Now she’s using it in a better way to open up the court.

"That’s when she’s at her best, when she can just start controlling the point, moving her opponent from corner to corner, and the forehand is where it all starts.”

rolandgarros.com

Iga Swiatek sets up a historic all-Polish 3rd round at Roland Garros

2026-05-27T23:16:00.000-04:00

Iga Swiatek is reticent about stretching her culinary skills too far after conceding she only really knows one simple yet publicly divisive pasta dish.

Fortunately, success opens doors for a six-time Grand Slam champion, one of which includes having a chef come to do the cooking at her Paris accommodation during Roland-Garros.

The Pole had enough on her hands finding a way past wily Czech lefty Sara Bejlek 6-2, 6-3 in the second round, so the thought of retreating to her off-site haven and have someone else whip up a post-match feast was a welcome reward.

Though she has made no secret of recalibrating between matches, taking a book to a park or making a quick side trip to the likes of the Palace of Versailles, this year satisfying the palate is her off-court French focus.

“Honestly, this year is more about cuisine, I would say, because actually I have a chef in the evening from Roland-Garros,” Swiatek said. “You know, he's I think working at this restaurant next to [Court] Simone-Mathieu.

“So I would say this year I'm exploring a little bit healthy French cuisine – not French fries, though. No, I mean, he has the skills. I have no talent. I would just make a mess in the kitchen.”

During her run to a maiden Wimbledon crown last year, Swiatek revealed a traditional Polish dish from childhood, makaron z truskawkami – pasta with strawberries – was her favourite meal to cook.

She reminded the world her cooking skills hadn’t developed in an on-court interview at this year’s Australian Open.

“I’m a terrible cook. Honestly the only thing I can do is pasta with strawberries. Half of the world is hating on it,” she said. “I don’t get why. Honestly that’s the only thing I can do.”

There’d be no such dish on the menu during a major, much less requested of a French chef in the house.

With meal preparations left to the expert, Swiatek was left to ply her expertise to her march towards the second week in Paris.

It remained on track on Court Philippe-Chatrier but not without a glitch after the wily Bejlek’s variety caused more than a few issues.

The Pole did not have it all her own way but stepped up when it mattered to improve her record against southpaws to 40-5 across all levels.

Searching for her first claycourt title since Roland-Garros two years ago, the third seed left plenty of room to iron out kinks on serve following the 94-minute affair on Court Philippe-Chatrier.

Of the eight games the 24-year-old has conceded across two rounds, six were against her serve, including when she tried to close out the opening set against the Czech.

Fortunately for Swiatek, her most dominant game on serve came while shutting the door on this year’s Abu Dhabi champion, a love hold setting an all-Polish third-round showdown after Magda Linette denied former champion Jelena Ostapenko.

“She was pretty good in defence, and I had many opportunities to attack,” Swiatek said. “Sometimes even too many, you know? So when you attack, like most of the balls, of course, you're going to make more mistakes, because it's easier to push the ball back than to actually add a lot of energy to it and try to open the court …

“Pretty unpredictable, I would say, but I didn't mind. I wanted to be flexible and adjust and play my game. Sometimes I had some moments where the mistakes happened, but at the end I feel like I was the one that had control over the game, and it was up to me if I'm going to finish these points or make a mistake. In important moments I was focused and patient enough to play solid.”

rolandgarros.com

While Iga's serve really let her down this match, the rest of her game was solid. She returned well, and extended rallies with a lot of patience something that often goes missing when her serve lets her down but not today she kept her frustrations at bay even despite getting broken a few times.

Most notably she felt comfortable enough to throw in a bunch of dropshots in one game. Something she used to do a lot more of, but which Wiktorowski got her out of and didn't nurture.

Definitely will need to improve her serve, but she's not now got a chance to avenge her loss to Linette in Miami if she plays like she did in the first set of that tournament it could be a quick one.

Thank you Magda Linette for taking out Jelena Ostapenko.

I will say that having 2 Polish players play each other at Roland Garros for the fist time is pretty cool.

Hopefully it'll be nice and straight forward for Iga because the challenges ahead will only get harder, but we take it one match at a time.

Jazda!

27 - In the Open Era, only Rafael Nadal (54) and Bjorn Borg (33) have faced more unseeded players than Iga Swiatek (27) at Roland Garros without ever losing. Unfriendly.

42 - Iga Swiatek has become the player with the most wins in Women’s Singles at Roland Garros after her first 45 main draw matches in the Open Era (42, equalling Chris Evert). Legendary.

Iga Swiatek back at Roland Garros with a comfortable win

2026-05-25T20:51:00.000-04:00

Iga Swiatek’s bid to reclaim the Roland-Garros crown is off to a hasty start after she allowed 17-year-old Emerson Jones just three games at the first hurdle.

In full flight under full sun on Court Philippe-Chatrier, the Pole delivered a 6-1, 6-2 clay-court masterclass in exactly 60 minutes – her heavy-kicking forehand keeping the teenage Australian under the pump on serve and on the run.

For the athletically blessed Jones, whose mother Loretta Harrop was a silver medallist triathlete at the Athens 2004 Olympics, it was the ultimate learning experience in her first Paris venture since reaching the girls’ singles semifinals last year.

Swiatek was less than two months older when she made her Paris debut and reached the fourth round in just her second major appearance.

Next time round, in 2020, she famously mounted the most unlikely charge for her maiden Grand Slam trophy.

“I feel like in 2019 I already played junior tournament, so I already kind of knew the vibe of the whole event, but obviously it's different playing at a pro level,” Swiatek said.

“I was just trying to do the best result possible with the game that I had, but next year, you know, maybe the difference was that every match I felt like I'm playing better and better, and I really felt like my game is fitting these courts.

“Match by match, I thought maybe I can go one more. I had many more belief, you know.”

In a tussle between the former world No.1 and former junior No.1 on Monday – they concurrently held top spot in their respective rankings in late 2024 – the third seed and four-time champion was relentless throughout, relishing the extra zing in her shots in the heat.

Swiatek could empathise with having salvaged just one game against third seed and reigning champion Simona Halep in that last-16 showing on debut.

“In 2019 I also played quite good. I remember I was a bit injured, but then with Simona, obviously she beat me pretty hard,” Swiatek said. “It was heartbreaking, but it was a lesson that I had to learn. She was playing her best game back then. For sure, without that loss, I wouldn't play much better next year, you know. That's the story.”

The novelty of being an unknown quantity worked in the young Pole’s favour particularly in her early years on tour.

While a handful of women before her had deployed such heavy-kicking and aggressive topspin, Swiatek took it to another level.

It required a period of adaptation for the rest of the field and while her rivals knew better now what to expect, execution was another matter.

“For sure players got used to it. I remember it was all a surprise in 2022 [her most dominant season],” she said.

“It was quite interesting that next year I felt totally different. I think this is what people say when they say it's harder to stay on the top, because you need to adjust your game so it's not that simple for people anymore. Yeah, they get used to it, for sure.

“But on the other hand, I can still make these shots better and they still work. When I played against Ash [Barty], I knew exactly what she's gonna play, but she did it so good that I was still losing these points.

“I knew exactly that she's gonna slice me to the backhand. I'm gonna try to, you know, pick it up with my backhand topspin and she's gonna finish me with her forehand.

"But still I played this one not so good, you know, because her slice was amazing. She played her forehand so well, that I still had no chance.”

Swiatek preserved her flawless Grand Slam record in main draws and qualifying against players outside the top 100 to set a second-round meeting with Czech Sara Bejlek.

For Jones, there was much to take away from her first outing on Chatrier. As Swiatek can vouch, it’s how you respond next time round that matters.

rolandgarros.com

Iga Swiatek fights, but falls short of the final in Rome

2026-05-14T23:42:38.019-04:00

Well, what can I say about this match, I think it's best I start with the fact it was played late at night after 10pm and went way past midnight.

Conditions were, cold, slow and damp (with rain earlier in the day). Not ideal for someone like Iga who relies on the spin on her shots especially her forehand.

Night conditions rendered it a bit irrelevant allowing a scrapper like Svitolina to keep getting one more shot back (with balls which were undoubtedly more heavy).

It's no secret that Iga hates playing at night so the tournament didn't do her any favours there (and as her fan and a fan of the sport in general I reserve the right to be mad about that for a while).

Why are we still making players play after 11pm.

Just why?.

No other sport in the world does this it is dangerous, dumb and completely unnecessary.

Especially when you consider this tournament is 12 days long with breaks in between and a first week where the top 10 don't even play.

It's not like we couldn't have had both the women and men's final on the same day. Indian Wells does it and it's fantastic.

No instead we have this shit show where even yesterday a men's match went on until 2am.

Beyond ludicrous.

Despite this loss I'm proud of Iga for her attitude on court, she dealt well with having to play in conditions that were more suited to her opponent. She corrected the mistakes in the 2nd set and got it into a 3rd.

Maybe got a bit impatient and overhit in the final set but it's understandable with how well Svitolina was retrieving that coupled with the fact she's probably used to sleeping at the time they were playing and patient point construction went out the window.

She still tried and fought.

It doesn't take away from how well she was playing this tournament, finally broke the quarterfinal and top 10 loss curse. It's the best she has played in months.

Positives all around in that respect.

Feeling real encouraged for Roland Garros with this run in Rome.

Sure there may still be some work to do but this is a huge step forward. It's hard to get that confidence and self assuredness when you haven't been at the tail end of tournaments for a while.

She's still lacking the clutch factor on big points so not quite back to her old self just yet.

But it was very clear here in Rome that if there's a chance of getting that back for Iga it's on the clay.

Part of me will always think what could have been had they played in the day with the sun out instead.

Because I knew Svitolina would be tough either way, but things swung in her favor even more as soon as it became a night session.

The first game of the 3rd set where Iga had break points and didn't take them decided the match.

Regardless it was a great run and I hope Iga is proud and keeps her head high.

All that training is definitely paying off.

On to Paris we go.

Jazda!

Iga Swiatek makes first semis of the season in Rome

2026-05-13T15:53:02.721-04:00

It has been an underwhelming season by Iga Swiatek’s standards. She briefly fell to No. 4 in the rankings last month, failed to advance beyond the quarterfinals of a WTA event outside team competitions and changed coaches three months into the season. But with Roland Garros approaching, she appears to be finding her form again.

On Wednesday, the fourth seed delivered one of her most impressive performances of the season on the WTA Tour Driven by Mercedes-Benz, defeating No. 5 Jessica Pegula 6-1, 6-2 in one hour, seven minutes to advance to the semifinals of the Internazionali BNL d’Italia in Rome. She will face either second seed Elena Rybakina or No. 7 seed Elina Svitolina next.

"For sure I'm really happy with the match," Swiatek told the media after her win. "From the beginning I felt like I can dictate. Tactically everything made sense as well. I was feeling the ball really well. I just used my chance and was pretty confident."

Here are some key takeaways from Swiatek’s victory:

Swiatek did not face a single break point on serve during the match. She landed 77.8% of her first serves and won 77.1% of first-serve points and 60% of second-serve points.

By comparison, Pegula landed 64.4% of her first serves, winning 62.1% of first-serve points and just 12.5% of second-serve points.

"Honestly, I feel on clay that there is not so much pressure on the serve because it's not so easy to get free points," the Pole responded when told about the stat in her post-match press conference. "I know I have a really great baseline game, so even if my serve is going to be kind of normal and not do a lot, I know it's still in my hands what to happen with the point. I don't think it's that much important. For sure, the placement is more important than the speed here because the ball will bounce pretty high anyway, even when you serve like 180. It's good to already, like, open up the court if you can with the serve."

The victory over the fifth-ranked Pegula marked Swiatek’s first win over a top-10 opponent this season. She had lost her previous six matches against top-10 players, including four in 2026, marking the longest such losing streak of her career.

Despite that run, Swiatek still owns one of the strongest records against elite opponents on tour. Since making her debut in 2019, she has recorded 54 wins over top-10 players, two more than current world No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka

Swiatek improved to 7-5 overall against Pegula and 2-0 against the American on clay.

Six of Swiatek’s seven wins over Pegula have come in straight sets, while three of Pegula’s five victories have also been in straight sets.

With the win, Swiatek improved to 25-3 in her career in Rome, which she has won on three occasions. In the Open Era, only Chris Evert, Conchita Martinez and Gabriela Sabatini reached 25 Rome wins in fewer matches, with each doing so in 27 matches.

Among players with at least 10 matches played in Rome during the Open Era, only Chris Evert owns a better winning percentage than Swiatek. Evert posted a 92.3% win rate, while Swiatek now stands at 89.3%.

"The goal was to play as many matches as possible," she said of her week in Rome. "I'm really happy that I just have opportunity to do that because I felt like I didn't play a lot at all, comparing to last season. I'm happy that I can spend some time on the court and play really solid matches against the best girls. For sure it's giving me confidence because you can practice as much as possible, but if you don't test it out on the court, play matches and face pressure or something, you're going to still feel the little bit rusty when it comes. I'll play hopefully two more here."

Swiatek holds a 6-6 career record against Rybakina and a 4-2 edge against Svitolina.

However, she lost her most recent meeting against both players - falling to Rybakina in the Australian Open quarterfinals in January and to Svitolina in the Indian Wells quarterfinals in March.

wtatennis.com

Another superb performance from Iga from start to finish.

A statement win.

Looking more and more like vintage Iga in Rome.

Feels like it's been a long time coming.

Slowly but surely things really are starting to click, and it makes me so happy to able to say that.

I was worried Pegula's flat strokes would give Iga trouble, but they don't have as much effect on clay especially when Iga's forehand and spin come into play.

As I said in my last post when Iga's game flows even her serve improves (almost 80percent in today) that's about as good as it gets.

Huge strides were made today by winning against #5 Pegula, Iga broke 6 straight losses to top ten opponents, and 4 straight losses in the quarters.

Her level is rising and things are looking up.

Svitolina or Rybakina next both would be tough.

Svitolina is a fighter so it'd prepare her for Gauff were they to play in the final.

Rybakina of course has the big serve and confidence winning a lot of matches this year. But Iga did beat her at Roland Garros last year. And the last time they played in Rome Iga retired at one set all due to a rib issue.

So I always take Rybakina's lone win in Rome with a grain of salt or asterisk I guess. I'll always wonder what would have been had Iga not retired.

When Iga plays well on clay she is still superior to Rybakina serve and all.

It certainly won't be easy, but it'd be a great litmus test before Roland Garros as well.

First semis of the year tomorrow.

Jazda!.

22 - Iga Swiatek is now the currently active player (among those appearing on Tour this season) with the most WTA-1000 semi-finals (22), surpassing Aryna Sabalenka (21). Jump.

25 - Iga Swiatek has claimed her 25th win in Rome after 28 matches played at the event - in the Open Era, only Chris Evert, Conchita Martinez and Gabriela Sabatini (27 each) have played less to reach this milestone. Home.

50 - Iga Swiatek has played today her 50th WTA-1000 clay court match (43-7): since the format’s introduction in 2009, only Serena Williams (44) had more wins after her first 50 matches on the surface in such events. Queen.

Iga Swiatek puts on her best performance in Rome to get back into a 5th quarterfinal

2026-05-11T19:54:00.001-04:00

Iga Swiatek handily defeated Naomi Osaka in a battle of Grand Slam champions Monday, dropping just three games in a 6-2, 6-1 victory that lasted 1 hour and 20 minutes to reach the Rome quarterfinals for the fifth time.

Awaiting her there is Jessica Pegula, who took the scenic route at times in her straight-sets win over Anastasia Potapova but still crossed the finish line after 1 hour and 38 minutes, winning 7-6 (6), 6-2 to reach the last eight for the first time since 2021 and the second time in her career.

Swiatek improved to 3-1 against Osaka at the WTA Tour Driven by Mercedes-Benz level, winning each of their past three meetings. This may have been her most impressive of the bunch, as she took control early and never truly relinquished it. Long regarded as one of the sport's best front-runners, she looked the part in what began as a highly anticipated showdown but quickly became a showcase of her talent.

Meanwhile, Pegula extended her perfect record against Potapova to 6-0. Pegula has now reached seven quarterfinals this season, tied with Mirra Andreeva and Elena Rybakina for the most on tour. Swiatek follows closely behind with five.

There were flashes of brilliance from Osaka, but they were too few and far between to make it competitive against Swiatek, who spent the evening operating at near-peak efficiency.

After exchanging breaks early, Swiatek broke again for a 3-2 lead behind a trio of winners. It was the first of four straight games won by the six-time Grand Slam champion to close out an opening set shaped largely by Osaka's 20 unforced errors. The second set, however, was all Swiatek.

She finished it with 15 winners to just six unforced errors, though even those numbers undersell her performance. Swiatek struck a forehand winner to set up a break point in the opening game, which she converted for a 1-0 lead. What followed was:Swiatek forehand winner to seal the hold for 2-0
Osaka hold after saving a break point
Swiatek forehand winner to seal the hold for 3-1
Swiatek backhand return winner to set up triple break point, breaks for 4-1
Swiatek ace to seal the hold for 5-1

For good measure, she finished the match with a final backhand winner to close out about as dominant a victory one can have over a player of Osaka's caliber. Swiatek totaled 23 winners to 18 unforced errors and delivered a clean day on serve, landing 67% of her first serves and winning 68% of those points, while taking 67% of her second-serve points.

She is now 116-2 in completed WTA 1000 matches after claiming the first set, with 108 of those now coming in straight sets.

Swiatek and Pegula will meet for the 12th time on Wednesday in one of the more balanced rivalries on the WTA Tour. Swiatek leads the head-to-head 6-5 and won their lone clay-court meeting at Roland Garros in 2022, but Pegula will enter having won their last two matchups in straight sets.

For Swiatek, a win would send her to the Rome semifinals for the fourth time. History suggests that would bode well for her chances of winning her first title of the season, as each of the previous three times she reached the final four at the Internazionali BNL d'Italia she was crowned champion.

wtatennis.com

That was by far Iga's best performance of the season on any surface against a quality opponent.

People said that about Cocciaretto yesterday, but Osaka's ball was far better quality (especially on serve) and Iga handled it superbly.

Naomi wasn't even playing badly but Iga just looked in another league. Her retrieval skills were on point.

Earlier this year she talked about wanting to become a wall again on clay, safe to say she achieved that today.

It was very much vintage Iga on clay showcasing once again why she's is a 6 time Grand Slam Champion and why she has won Roland Garros 4 times.

For the first time since changing coaches Iga actually looked self assured and confident in her shots, and because of that her serve and the rest of her game just flowed.

It was also the 2nd time this year that she didn't let her lead slip in the 2nd set like she's been doing for most of the season, but was her ruthless efficient self all the way through.

It was an absolute pleasure to watch, like a breathe of fresh air.

It's early days but you can already tell Roig is a better fit coach wise than Wim Fisette.

He was more into analytics, Roig seems more practical in terms of preparing for matches and actually give Iga a good game plan.

With Wim she often looked lost when things weren't going well.

Roig and Iga seem to get along really well, and know what they want to achieve and how to go about it together (which is important).

The way she and Wiktorowski used to do.

Speaking of Wiktoroski how great was it to see Iga play so well with Osaka's coach (her former coach) watching.

Must have felt great.

I said a few posts back that Caty McNally helped play Iga into form and I stand by that.

This match could be the catalyst that finally makes everything click again.

Something Iga and all her fans have been waiting for.

Pegula next which won't be easy given how flat she hits, but if Iga plays anything like today not even Pegula's style of play will stop her progress.

Jazda!

Iga Swiatek sweeps past Cocciaretto, sets up a rematch with Naomi Osaka on clay in Rome

2026-05-10T19:17:00.004-04:00

Iga Swiatek defeated Elisabetta Cocciaretto 6-1, 6-0 in 65 minutes Sunday to reach the Rome fourth round for the fifth time. She joined No. 15 seed Naomi Osaka, who earlier in the day scored an equally dominant win over No. 19 seed Diana Shanider to advance to her third straight Round of 16 in Rome.

Osaka needed just 54 minutes to dispatch Shnaider, dropping only three games in a 6-1, 6-2 victory.

As a result, the two multi-time Grand Slam champions -- who account for 10 Major titles combined -- will meet in a marquee fourth-round matchup at the Internazionali BNL d'Italia. It will be their fourth meeting at the WTA Tour Driven by Mercedes-Benz level and their first since 2024. Swiatek leads the head-to-head 2-1.

Their most recent clash was an instant classic: a second-round thriller at Roland Garros in which the then No. 1-ranked Swiatek outlasted Osaka 7-6 (1), 1-6, 7-5 after saving a match point en route to a third straight French Open title.

The now-World No. 3 expects a similar challenge this time.

"She's a great player," Swiatek said in her on-court interview after beating Cocciaretto. "We've played a lot and (had) a really tough match at Roland Garros two years ago, so I know what she can bring and how well she can play when she feels the ball. So I'll prepare technically and I'll be ready."

If you're saying to yourself, "That scoreline looks familiar," you're right. Swiatek and Cocciaretto met for the first time last year in the second round in Rome, and Swiatek won handily, dropping just one game.

Sunday was a case of wash, rinse, repeat for the three-time Rome champion. She stormed out of the gates, breaking in the second game and again in the sixth to take a commanding 5-1 lead. Moments later, she closed the opening set the same way she started it -- with an ace.

Cocciaretto appeared on track to secure a rare hold while trailing 2-0 in the second set before a brief rain delay halted play for a few minutes. Swiatek won four straight points after play resumed, finishing the game with a forehand winner to break for 3-0.

Swiatek won the last nine games against a seemingly hampered Cocciaretto, who received a brief visit from the physio late in the first set. But regardless of Cocciaretto's condition, it was a much-needed show of dominance from Swiatek, whose focus throughout was on her execution.

"I just wanted to be solid and focus on myself no matter what the score was," Swiatek said. "Sometimes at the end of the match it's easy for the opponent to let go and just go for it. So I wanted to just play as I planned and how I played the whole match, and at the end it worked. I really liked how I played today. My serve was good, I was opening up the court, so it was really nice."

Cocciaretto did let go at the end, saving three match points and earning her first three break points in the final game, but Swiatek didn't waver. Instead, she converted her fourth match point to secure the win. Swiatek finished with 17 winners to 11 unforced errors and won 72% of her service points, a level she'll hope to carry into her meeting with Osaka.

If there was one word to describe Osaka's week, stunning might do the trick -- first at the Met Gala, and then on court, especially on Sunday. In what was perhaps her most complete performance of the 2026 season, Osaka dismantled Shnaider, who reached the Rome quarterfinals last year before falling to eventual champion Jasmine Paolini in three sets.

Like Swiatek, Osaka broke in the second game and again in the sixth for a 5-1 lead before taking the first set in 24 minutes. She continued to face little resistance in the second, unleashing a backhand winner from outside the court to help her break for 3-2, then breaking again in the penultimate game to more within one game of victory.

wtatennis.com

Finally today truly felt like vintage Iga (yes Cociaretto doesn't really have weapons to hurt her but still).

She kept her focus from start to finish even made sure not to get broken and punctuated it with a bagel.

That's the front runner mentality we're all familiar with.

Feels like a breath of fresh air, even if it doesn't make for the most entertaining of matches.

I think Iga needed a win like today.

Just to remind herself how well her game works on clay and how good she feels on it.

Beyond great to see.

Of course with this win she set up a rematch of sorts with Naomi Osaka on clay (when they met in round 2 of Roland Garros few years ago it was an instant classic) and one people talk about till this day.

Hard to say if this one will live up to it, but if they can bring at least half the level they showed in that match it'll be popcorn worthy.

And I for one can't wait.

The only thing that would make this better is if they were playing in a final instead of 4th round.

Win or lose I hope Iga takes some confidence from it in time for Roland Garros.

Excited would be an understatement.

Is it tomorrow yet?.

Jazda!

Iga Swiatek hangs tough in first match back in Rome

2026-05-08T18:47:00.000-04:00

ROME -- No. 4 seed Iga Swiatek took the scenic route into the Internazionali BNL d’Italia third round, surviving a valiant comeback from Caty McNally to win 6-1, 6-7(5), 6-3 in 2 hours, 43 minutes.

At 6-1, 3-1, the three-time Rome champion Swiatek appeared to be cruising through her opener. Her topspin was jumping off the court, she was striking a series of forehand winners, and she was breaking down McNally’s drive backhand in extended rallies. But she squandered three break points for a 4-1 lead with cheap unforced errors, and from that point on the match turned into a battle.

"For sure, not an easy first match," Swiatek said in her press conference. "The conditions were kind of heavy. The ball was flying slow. So we had many long rallies, many moments where you could create a lot on the court."

McNally -- the only player to win a set from Swiatek at Wimbledon last year -- had never beaten the Polish star at pro level. But she did have a memorable victory over Swiatek on clay -- a 3-6, 7-6(6), 6-4 comeback in the 2018 Roland Garros junior event. As McNally began to impose her touch on the match, she threatened a similar turnaround.

Swiatek served for the match at 5-4 and 6-5 in the second set and reached 30-30 both times, only to lapse into errors, getting broken on backhands that sailed well over the baseline on each occasion. Afterwards, she vowed that those would be learning experiences.

"Honestly, I want to watch this game and see if there's something that I did wrong," she said when asked about her attempts to serve out the win. "I'm not sure even what I did ... I don't exactly remember what happened in that game. But I will watch the match. I'll watch it and I'll see."

As her accuracy wavered, McNally grew more effective at drawing mistakes from Swiatek with her defense. McNally’s slice had little impact through the first set and a half, but her ability to reset points with it became a key factor in turning the second set.

In the third set, it nearly unraveled again for Swiatek. She broke McNally for 3-1, but missed a chance to extend the lead to 4-1 with a double fault, then handed the break straight back with a string of errors.

But this time, Swiatek regained her focus. As McNally held a point to level at 4-4, Swiatek swatted away a return to deny her. Two dialed-in clean winners followed, and then the break for 5-3. There would be no repeat of her second-set travails. Solid offensive patterns brought Swiatek to match point, and she converted as McNally sent a forehand just wide.

"I was really happy with the first set, then I made some mistakes," said Swaitek. "Also Caty, I felt like she was playing one more ball in, really grinding in defense. I needed to be patient. I'm happy at the end of the match I was solid and I used the right balls to attack, but was also patient enough to stay in the rally."

Swiatek will next face either No. 28 seed Emma Navarro or home hope Elisabetta Cocciaretto

wtatennis.com

Well this match turned into an unnecessary rollercoaster after a very straight forward first set.

Should have won it in straights after serving for it twice. I swear it's all tied to confidence at this point, she has lost that ruthlessness she was so good at.

But the rest of her game is still there for her on clay.

Just needs the belief back.

And more matches, sadly she hasn't had as many matches on clay as usual with losing early in Stuttgart and withdrawing from Madrid.

She's had a total of 5 matches compared to others who have had double that.

I think with every match things will get better. I can already see a lot of the Iga of old with the new coach at the helm.

Proud of the way Iga got her focus back after losing the first.

Iga from earlier this year probably would have still been thinking about the mistakes and lost opportunities.

And would have gotten frustrated and lost.

While I'm still concerned about her inability to close things out straightforwardly, it's definitely something that will come with more match play.

I'm taking a lot of positives from this one and treating this match as McNally playing Iga into some form.

After all last time they played 3 sets against each other Iga won Wimbledon.

Next match should be a lot easier in terms of comfort.

Jazda!.

Iga Swiatek withdraws mid match in Madrid due to illness

2026-04-25T18:49:00.009-04:00

Tough scenes for Iga, truly rotten luck to get food poisoning (there was also talk of a circulating virus in Madrid).

But the culprit for many seems to have been bad shrimp at a particular restaurant.

Sad part is it's not the first time this happened in Madrid. Seems food quality at this tournament isn't the best.

This was only Iga's 3rd retirement in a match, not bad when you consider how many she has already played in her young career.

Clearly Iga was feeling good on court and wanted more from this tournament, but the illness didn't allow her to do so thus the emotional photos.

Really proud of Iga for fighting and taking it to 3 despite feeling very clearly ill.

Hopefully she feels better in a few days and can start fresh in one of her fave places at the Foro Italico in Rome (where she is a 3 time champion).

Hopefully she'll get a decent draw.

Keep your head up champ, you'll comeback stronger!.

Onward to Rome.

Iga Swiatek starts off Madrid with an opening win

2026-04-23T21:27:00.001-04:00

Two of the Mutua Madrid Open's 2025 semifinalists got their 2026 campaigns under way on Thursday, with contrasting results. No. 4 seed Iga Swiatek, the 2024 champion, enjoyed a dominant 6-1, 6-2 victory over qualifier Daria Snigur in just 61 minutes. However, No. 7 seed Elina Svitolina fell 6-3, 6-4 to Hungary's Anna Bondar

Just 24 hours earlier, Snigur had pulled off one of the wildest wins of the tournament to date, ousting Daria Kasatkina 6-3, 3-6, 7-6(13) in the sixth-longest third-set regular tiebreak of the century so far. But the Ukrainian, competing in the first clay-court WTA main draw of her career, was unable to impose her flat hitting on Swiatek.

Consecutive double faults in Snigur's opening service game led to an immediate break, and set the tone for the rest of the match. Swiatek landed 16 winners to Snigur's seven, while the latter was undone by 22 unforced errors. A slow start to the second set resulted in the Pole trailing 2-0, but she quickly righted the ship to concede just seven more points in the next six games.

Swiatek's third-round opponent will be No. 31 seed Ann Li, who defeated qualifier and American compatriot Alycia Parks 6-2, 6-7(5), 6-3.

wtatennis.com

Hard to judge Iga's level in this one given her opponent didn't put up much resistance. Facing Ann Li could prove more of a challenge and make for a more interesting match.

But a simple start like this is always good in the early rounds of any tournament.

Iga Swiatek falls short in another quarterfinal in Stuttgart

2026-04-18T17:05:00.000-04:00

Lot's of positives to take away for Iga despite another quarterfianl loss.

Improvement was evident, solid from the baseline, more patience building points and more positive body language during unforced errors.

Serve is still a work in progress (and it really broke down in the 3rd) but that's to be expected with her tweaking it and changing the motion.

But overall game looking much more solid, things are trending in the right direction with time things will start to click. It's definitely the best I've seen her play this year thus far.

As Iga herself has mentioned things won't happen over night, even specifically pointed out in the most match interview that she is a player who needs matches and wins in order for her game to flow (very much like her idol Rafa).

Confidence will be the big thing when facing the top 10.

Right now she doesn't have that so it's hard to trust anything with her game especially on serve.

I will always wonder had she gone up 3-0 in the 3rd would the match have turned out different. Certainly would have helped the confidence factor.

So will winning a match from a set up again, same goes for the quarterfinal curse. If she could break through to one final before Roland Garros it'd do a world of good.

And I think the best chance for that will be Rome. I don't hold much hope for Madrid due to the altitude, but hopefully she can win a few matches just to build on things.

It'll be interesting if outside clay conditions will help her out more vs the indoor clay.

Better quality clay coupled with outdoor conditions might just make her feel more sure of her movement and allow her to actually slide instead of tripping and falling as she did in Stuttgart (twice).

While this was another disappointing loss I'm also taking under account Mirra Andreeva's confidence having just won a title in Linz on indoor clay the week prior.

Hard to win a match when your opponent has confidence in their serve to win them free points while you're fighting for every point with 2nd serves.

Had she won Iga would have gone back to #3. But ranking will only matter when the wins come, till then we wait and see.

But I feel encouraged with the new coach, he's trying to make visable technical changes and I think with time Iga will be able to implement them better and it'll start paying off in matches.

On to Madrid we go.

Jazda Iga trust the process.

Iga Swiatek starts clay season with new raquet and a win in Stuttgart

2026-04-16T15:57:00.001-04:00

Iga Swiatek arrived in Stuttgart with a 103-15 career record and 10 titles on clay, fueling anticipation for the former World No. 1’s return to the surface Wednesday against local favorite Laura Siegemund.

After beating Siegemund 6-2, 6-3 in 1 hour and 30 minutes, she made it a successful start to both clay season and her partnership with new coach Francisco Roig, improving to 104-15 on the surface and to 1-0 with Roig to open their collaboration on solid footing.

“Even though I’m an experienced player, it’s still a new thing for me,” Swiatek said in her on-court interview. “I haven’t changed coaches often in my career, but I feel it’s always exciting because you get to know different points of view from a person that is supposed to be with you every day on the court.

“So I think you need to be open-minded and try to soak in this new approach. And I feel like with Francisco, we have a similar view in terms of how I should play. The other thing is actually doing it on court. So this will, I think, take a little bit more time, but the idea is there, the attitude and work are there, so I’m happy to start this process.”

With the win, the two-time Stuttgart champion is through to her fourth quarterfinal of the season, where she will face the winner of the second-round match between No. 6 seed Mirra Andreeva and Alycia Parks. She’ll be looking to reach her first semifinal of the year and snap a streak of four straight quarterfinal losses dating back to Wuhan last fall.

For now, she can take positives from an opening-match win at what has long been one of her most successful tournaments.

“I’m really happy to be back on clay, especially here,” Swiatek said. “I love playing here, so it’s really nice to be back. It wasn’t the easiest match because Laura wants to change the rhythm a lot, so it wasn’t like the practices. It was the opposite, with a lot of drop shots and slices that you need to adjust to. So I’m happy that I did well and kept focused on my tasks.”

That big-picture approach guided Swiatek through a match that was, at times, less straightforward than the scoreline suggests.

The World No. 4 started fast, holding to love and then firing a backhand winner to break for 2-0. She won 12 of the first 15 points to build a 3-0 lead.

Siegemund briefly flipped the set with a love hold and a break to get back on serve at 3-2. But Swiatek, who needed three break points to secure her first break, followed the same recipe in the next game, converting her third chance with a forehand winner to regain control at 4-2.

It was the first of three straight games she won, closing the set with another backhand winner to secure a third break.

After five consecutive holds to open the second set, Swiatek again struck first, breaking to love for a 4-2 lead. Siegemund again responded with a break of her own for 4-3, but the German’s rally was short-lived as Swiatek won the final two games to finish the match.

It was far from a perfect performance -- seven double faults, 27 unforced errors and landing just over 50% of her first serves -- but there were positives as well. She broke Siegemund five times, hit 22 winners and won 78% of her first-serve points.

She’ll look to carry those positives into her next match against either Andreeva or Parks. She is 1-2 against Andreeva, having lost both meetings last year in Dubai and Indian Wells, and has yet to face Parks.

wtatennis.com

Not a bad start from Iga considering the longer break, switching coaches and changing the motion on her serve. As well as her first match on the clay.

Very much a work in progress.

I don't put much stock on the indoor clay tournaments, because the conditions of both Madrid (with it's altitude) and Rome both being out door are completely different.

But making it past the quarterfinal here maybe even a final would be a great confidence booster for Iga regardless.

Won't be easy with Andreeva and possibly Rybakina in the semis, but what better way to see where you are with your progress then testing yourself against those 2.

Madrid and especially Rome will be the real litmus test before Roland Garros.

Step by step, it's just really great seeing Iga back on clay again and looking happy..

Jazda!

WTA Finals looking for a new host as contract with Saudi Arabia comes to an end at the end of the year

2026-04-03T00:00:00.000-04:00

Ben Rothenberg, one of the world's most renowned tennis journalists, announced that Saudi Arabia will no longer host the 2027 WTA Finals starting in 2027. The tournament, which concludes the year-long competition, will instead be held in North America. Here are the details.

"We signed a three-year contract, but we would gladly stay here longer than we originally planned," WTA Director General Portia Archer said some time ago, adding in "The Athletic" that talks are underway to extend the cooperation beyond 2024-2026.

According to Rothenberg, the WTA's talks with the Saudi Arabian Tennis Federation have ended in failure. This effectively means a move, and the organization is already searching for a new host for one of the most prestigious events on the tennis calendar, featuring eight of the season's best players.

Charlotte to take over the WTA Finals?!

According to media reports, North America is the new destination. Charlotte is the most frequently mentioned destination . Interestingly, the WTA Finals have been held on this continent for many years in the past, and outside the United States, the world's best tennis players have visited Mexico, among other places.

In previous years, the tournament that ends each season was also held in Schengen, Singapore, Istanbul, Doha, Madrid and Munich.

The previous tournament was won by Jelena Rybakina, who defeated Aryna Sabalenka 6-3, 7-6(0) in the final. In 2023, Iga Świątek emerged victorious, defeating Jessica Pegula 6-1, 6-0 in the deciding set. In 2015, Agnieszka Radwańska triumphed, leaving Petra Kvitová in the dust—6-2, 4-6, 6-3.

onet.pl

Having the tournament in America would certainly be advantageous for the American players not so much for the Europeans and vice versa.

But given what's currently going on in the world with the war in the middle east, not to mention Saudi Arabia's horrendous human rights record and everything associated with that.

It's definitely for the best that it relocates where ever it ends up being hosted.

Even if it takes a few years to find a permanent home, it'll be better in the long run for the WTA and it's athletes.

Iga Swiatek changes coaches Wim Fisette out, former Nadal coach Francisco Roig in

2026-04-02T21:49:00.004-04:00

Iga Swiatek has changed her coach for just the fourth time in her career but a decision like that has proved to be very effective in the past.

The 24-year-old confirmed on Thursday that Francos Roig would be joining her coaching team, bringing with him the experience of coaching Rafa Nadal, but there is pressure on the latter given just how well her previous coaches have done.

Since turning pro in 2016, Swiatek has had just three permanent coaches and all of them have helped changed or develop her game.

The first was Piotr Sierzputowski who oversaw Swiatek’s transition into a pro player. Swiatek clinched her first slam, the 2020 French Open under Sierzputowski as she defeated Sofia Kenin 6-4, 6-1 in the Paris final.

After a five years together, Swiatek announced in December 2021 she was parting ways with her long-time coach.

Tomasz Wiktorowski was appointed, who has been Swiatek’s most successful coach to date. Under the Pole, Swiatek won the French Open on three occasions as well as the 2022 US Open.

In October 2024, they then parted ways before Belgian coach Wim Fiesste was appointed late that month. That marked another turning point in Swiatek’s career as she clinched the Wimbledon title for the first time in 2025.

That relationship came to an end after Swiatek suffered a second round defeat in Miami which opened the vacancy for Roig to come in.

While Roig is no stranger to Grand Slams, the history of Swiatek and her coaches represents a very high bar in terms of what is to be expected. That shock defeat in Miami has also seen Swiatek drop to her lowest ranking since June 2025.

as for why she made the change Swiatek said she does not usually like to make coaching alterations after a tournament exit but expressed a desire to feel good on the court again, an element she found had gone missing of late.

“I wouldn’t make such a decision hastily. Sometimes you can see me as an emotional person, but I really don’t make decisions impulsively. I’m quite rational. I like to give myself time to make a decision.

“Besides, I don’t make many changes to the team. I think it’s a very good approach. I like to give the team the opportunity to ‘reset’ ourselves and start working a little differently.

“However, in this case, I felt that it was simply time for a change. Yes, it was not a decision made in Miami – it was a longer process in which I thought everything through carefully.

“During the tournament in Doha, I realized that I don’t feel as good on the court as before,” she continued.

“Of course, at different tournaments there may be different reasons for a worse disposition – sometimes I just know that I was not focused that day, sometimes the forehand failed me, sometimes something else.”

tennis365.com

Very interesting choice, really hope he helps Iga find her solid foundation again, and the joy along the way as well.

Also is there anything better than seeing Iga one of the best women clay courters in recent times on clay at Rafael Nadal's Academy in a training session with the king of clay himself?.

I think not.

Talk about inspiring.

Has to feel very uplifting for Iga as well, what's better than getting pointers for clay from your childhood idol :).

Watch out clay season, Iga 'Queen of Clay' Swiatek is gonna find her groove again this year :).