Iga Swiatek recalls the match that kick-started her clay-court prowess: ‘I just let it go!’
Three years ago, Iga Swiatek lost at the Italian Open to Arantxa Rus. Since then, she is undefeated in Rome, has two Roland-Garros titles and is favourite for a third this year. What flicked the switch?
When Iga Swiatek lost to Arantxa Rus in the first round of the Italian Open in the autumn of 2020, she started to question whether it made sense to continue with her tennis career.
The young Pole was not enjoying being on court, struggling to find motivation during practice, and recalls being overwhelmed with the high balls flying up off the slow-moving clay courts of a chilly Italian Open – something almost inconceivable to think about the Swiatek we know today.
It was in the depths of the first European winter of the pandemic, and the delayed 1000-level event was taking place in darker and colder conditions than usual at a crowdless and rather forlorn Foro Italico.
A relatively unknown teenager quietly exited the tournament in straight sets to little attention.
Less than one month later, Iga Swiatek had written her name into tennis history by sweeping the field at Roland-Garros, becoming the first Polish player to win a Grand Slam title, having not lost more than five games in any singles match she played.
What has followed over the past two-and-a-half years will surely be viewed by coaches and players of the future as the perfect blueprint to developing exceptional young talent into consistent, mature brilliance.
Superb Swiatek
During this time, Swiatek’s achievements on the red clay of Europe have been nothing short of breathtaking. She has added a second Roland-Garros title to her collection, and successfully defended her maiden title at the renowned Stuttgart Open.
Since that loss to Rus, Swiatek has also won every match she has played at the Italian Open, winning back-to-back titles in Rome. With her 6-0, 6-0 victory against 2021 Roland-Garros finalist Pavlyuchenkova in the second round this year (her second double bagel at this tournament), the young Pole now stands at 12 straight wins in the Italian capital.
In the post-match conference for her latest win, Swiatek spoke candidly about that loss to Rus three years ago and how much the future World No 1 was struggling with form and mentality at that time.
“Well, it wasn’t easy honestly. It was a pretty tricky part of my career. I mean, I just started, but career,” the World No 1 said. “Well, this match, I remember it as a pretty traumatic one. She played, like, high balls. It really worked here on this slow surface. I couldn’t manage that properly. I was making a lot of mistakes. I didn’t feel really well.
“I came home to practise, and that period of time wasn’t, like, easy at all. I also probably had some expectations because it was clay and I knew that I could do better. Yeah, it was really, really hard.”
Iga Swiatek questions her career
Swiatek also revealed that, during a talk with her psychologist Daria Abramowicz – an instrumental component in the Pole’s team – she questioned whether tennis was the correct career path for her.
“I literally had the talk with Daria if it makes sense to continue everything because I felt so bad”
Swiatek questioned her career following her loss to Rus in 2020
“Even when I came to Roland-Garros… My expectations were just pretty high. I felt really bad on court. Always tense and stressed, even when I was practising.
“I was able to kind of just really, really reset and let it go… I managed on this tournament to kind of let everything go. Honestly, when I played my first rounds in Roland Garros 2020, I thought I played so bad that I can’t go lower, so I’m just going to play and see how it goes.”
It is safe to say that it went well. Swiatek, in one of the most difficult and uncertain periods of her young career, found a way to flick the switch and unleash all of her potential in one spectacular two-week run in which a new brand of tennis was showcased to the world.
She has not looked back since. Following a solid but difficult sophomore season during which her innate talent was slowly carved into shape across the course of a rigorous twelve months of tour, Swiatek then took full flight in 2022.
Iga now sits atop of the WTA rankings, having fully established herself as the best female tennis player on the planet, and one of the all-time greats on clay.
Swiatek will feel the pressure to continue to back up her clay-court results, especially with the likes of Elena Rybakina and Sabalenka closing the gap on her in the rankings.
The astounding truth, though, is that few would bet against her successfully defending her titles in Rome and Paris.
The standards Swiatek has set for herself are simply that high, and they show little sign of falling.
