Iga Swiatek Has One 'Big Problem' And It Could Affect Her French Open Chances

Tuesday, 01 April 2025 at 16:11

byErik Virostko

Iga Swiatek started having a big problem recently, with her opponents targeting one part of her game.

Swiatek's last few months have been nothing like the previous few years that the Pole enjoyed on the WTA Tour. She has yet to win a title since last year's French Open, which makes it the longest period since her first career title that she has waited for another one.

It's clear that the 23-year-old can't win as easily as she once used to, and one of the reasons is that her opponents have started to figure her game out.

Swiatek is a player who doesn't have any glaring weaknesses, but there are still some parts of her game that are stronger, and those that are weaker. For example, the Polish player isn't the best net player out there.

Another problem that she started having recently, and that could have contributed to her shock loss to a teenager in Miami, is that her opponents started targeting her forehand after serve.

Former ATP World No. 1 player, Mats Wilander, talked about Swiatek in an interview with TNT Sports, saying that the fact that the Pole's forehand started being targeted is a big problem for her.

"That's the big problem I think she has. This is really a plan that most players [have] realised, this is what I have to do against Iga Swiatek on a faster court, on grass, or a hard court, or indoors, or even a slow hard court in many ways."

At the same time, Swiatek's problems seem to be only on the hard and grass courts at the moment. Wilander thinks that opponents won't have the same success when attacking the Polish player on her favorite clay.

"I don't think it means that they think it will be effective on clay. Though the more losses she suffers with players targeting her forehand, the more you will have players trying that on a clay court."

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"I do think that Iga will be able to deal with that on clay, because the bounces are going to be slower, and she will be able to use topspin on the forehand. I am really curious to see when the clay-court season starts to see if her forehand improves overnight."

"As soon as she plays a match will her forehand be back where it was before on a clay court or has she lost a bit of confidence and she's afraid of defending on that side? I am not really sure until she gets on a clay court."

Despite being able to identify Swiatek's recent weakness, Wilander still thinks that she will be able to win the French Open this year. Swiatek has won the tournament four times in the last five years.

"But my prediction is that Iga is going to make minimum the semis of the French Open and that she's going to win a minimum of two tournaments on clay. And my guess is that she will win the French Open too."