Iga Swiatek Is In Huge Trouble Ahead Of Her Roland Garros Title Defense

Iga Swiatek is in huge trouble shortly ahead of her title defense at Roland Garros, and the worst thing is, it seems that she has no idea how to return to the right path.

Only a couple of years ago, it seemed that no one would be able to even challenge Swiatek on the WTA Tour. The Polish player dominated almost all the tournaments she played, and she often destroyed her opponents.

Swiatek used to be so dominant that many tennis fans started joking about her bakery, as she often delivered bagels (winning a set 6-0) and breadsticks (winning a set 6-1) to her opponents.

Even last year, the former WTA World No. 1 player completely dominated the clay-court part of the season. She won the titles in Madrid, Rome, and Paris back-to-back-to-back. Those three tournament wins represented 4,000 of Swiatek's total points earned.

This year, however, the 23-year-old couldn't get anywhere close to replicating her last year's success. She started the clay-court season knowing that her last title win came almost 12 months ago at Roland Garros.

Swiatek's first tournament on the red dirt was a quarter-final loss to Jelena Ostapenko in Stuttgart. After that, she lost in the semi-finals of the Madrid Open to Coco Gauff, and after winning her opening match in Rome, the Pole lost in the Italian capital as well.

The Italian Open was her last hope to gain confidence ahead of the French Open, as Swiatek triumphed in Rome three times in the previous four years, and the only time she didn't win the title, the Polish player retired in her quarter-final match against Elena Rybakina.

But even in Rome, Swiatek lost already in her second match. The four-time Roland Garros champion was stopped by Danielle Collins, who beat her convincingly 6-1, 7-5. For Swiatek, this loss was very significant for multiple reasons.

For the first time in 27 WTA 1000-level tournaments, Swiatek didn't reach the round of 16. It last happened at the 2021 Cincinnati Open. On top of that, this loss also means that the five-time Grand Slam champion will lose her World No. 2 spot.

Swiatek won't fall only to the World No. 3 position. She will be overtaken by both Coco Gauff and Jessica Pegula, which means that the Pole will drop at least to the World No. 4 spot. On top of that, she could even lose her World No. 4 position if Jasmine Paolini wins the title in Rome.

Dropping to the World No. 5 spot would mean that Swiatek could technically meet the current World No. 1 and most dominant player on the WTA Tour, Aryna Sabalenka, already in the quarter-finals in Paris.

With her confidence issues and overall struggles, the last thing that Swiatek currently needs is a challenging draw, but all of her issues are snowballing into one giant ball that she seemingly doesn't know how to stop.

But Swiatek's biggest problem isn't her ranking or a challenging draw, but a combination of two things. She isn't as confident as she used to be, and her opponents don't fear her as much as they used to.

Many analysts and former players often spoke about how the Big Three of Rafael Nadal, Novak Djokovic, and Roger Federer often won their matches even before stepping onto the court, because the opponents simply feared them.

Swiatek used to have that kind of "aura" on the WTA Tour, especially on clay, but her most recent losses showed everyone that she is certainly beatable, even at Roland Garros.

The 22-time WTA titlist can work on her confidence, but she can't change how her opponents see her, only improve her results. At the end of the day, everything is still in her hands ahead of Roland Garros, but her cards are much, much worse than they were a year ago.