A former WTA world No. 1 has boldly predicted that Iga Swiatek will fail to secure a Grand Slam during the 2025 season.
Iga Swiatek is the most successful women's player so far in the 2020s. The Pole won four French Opens, the 2022 US Open, and has mostly dominated the World No. 1 ranking since April 2022.
Swiatek finished as the year-end No. 1 in 2022 and 2023, but Aryna Sabalenka ended her reign at the top after an outstanding season that included winning the Australian Open and US Open titles.
Sabalenka was helped by Swiatek missing the entire Asian swing in September and October. The five-time Grand Slam champion stated this was due to personal reasons at the time.
However, on November 28th, it was announced that Swiatek accepted a one-month suspension after testing positive for the banned substance trimetazidine from an out-of-competition sample submitted on August 12th.
Swiatek received a provisional ban on September 12th, but had it lifted 22 days later after additional testing proved Swiatek's explanation of melatonin tablets becoming contaminated with trimetazidine.
The world No. 2 served most of that ban while provisionally suspended and is already clear to return to tennis. Swiatek hopes to put the incident behind her and have another successful season next year.
2025 will be Swiatek's first full season with Wim Fissette, who recently issued a staunch defense of his player from those criticizing her since the news of the 23-year-old's one-month ban became public.
Despite Fissette's supportive words, it remains to be seen whether Swiatek can swiftly put the incident behind her. The Pole's first tournament of any kind since the news became public will be at the World Tennis League from December 19th to 22nd.
Former world No. 1 Dinara Safina does not think Swiatek will win a Grand Slam in 2025 after that ordeal. Speaking to Championat, she predicted the men's and women's singles champions at each major event, and there were some surprising choices.
"Australia – Sinner and Sabalenka. Roland Garros – Zverev and, let’s say, Muchova. I don’t think Swiatek will win a Slam on clay next year. Wimbledon – Alcaraz or Daniil Medvedev for men, Rybakina for women. US Open – for men Medvedev or Rublev, women Sabalenka again."
Swiatek has won the last three French Opens and four of the previous five iterations of the tournament. She undoubtedly established herself as the best female clay court player in that time, making Safina's prediction risky.
Picking Rublev as one of the two most likely winners of the US Open is the most surprising men's prediction since he failed to win any of his previous ten Grand Slam quarterfinals.
Safina also discussed Jannik Sinner's game. She called his level incredible and thinks winning this year's Australian Open final against Daniil Medvedev was pivotal for the Italian.
"The most important factor that he started the season with a victory in Australia. If he hadn’t won, he wouldn’t have got such a charge of confidence, because Daniil was very close to winning."
"Now Jannik is the leader, he plays incredible. It’s very interesting to watch Sinner. It’s even hard to tell me what he needs to add, he’s fine."
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