Former world No 1 reveals key to Iga Swiatek’s French Open title hopes

Iga Swiatek “is always dangerous” at Roland Garros, but French Open Tournament Director Amelie Mauresmo feels the defending champion will need to regain some confidence during the early rounds of the tournament.

In sharp contrast to 2024 when she arrived in Paris on a high following back-to-back titles at the Madrid Open and Italian Open, Swiatek is struggling for form as she has won only six matches on clay so far this campaign.

The Pole lost in the quarter-final of the Stuttgart Open against Jelena Ostapenko – her sixth-consecutive defeat against the Latvian – before finding a bit of form in Spain as she reached the semi-final, but was then humbled 6-1, 6-1 by Coco Gauff.

Next was her title defence in Rome and she suffered her second-earliest defeat at the WTA 1000 event as she lost in the third round against Danielle Collins.

There was a silver lining as her exit meant she could arrive early in Paris to start her build-up to her French Open title defence.

“She came very early this year, and she hasn’t had many wins on the clay this year,” Mauresmo told Eurosport France.

“I’m thinking she wants to really take the atmosphere of this centre court, the court she loves, maybe her favourite court on the planet.

“It’s nice to see her come so early. I think it’s one of the first times that we have this kind of player, a high-profile player, coming so early in the tournament.

“Usually, it happens at the beginning of next week, like Monday of the opening week, Monday, Tuesday, Monday, most of the time.

“But I guess she needs to practise on-site, and that’s what she feels she needs. We’re happy to have her here.”

Swiatek has dropped to No 5 in the WTA Rankings so will be seeded fifth in Paris and, while not ideal, she will avoid the other big-name players early on.

But she will need to get some confidence during the early rounds if she is going to win a fifth French Open title, according to two-time major winner Mauresmo.

“I think that she can still have a chance,” the former world No 1 said.

“I think the beginning of the tournament will be key, definitely, to have this confidence going again. You need these first few matches, one, two, three, to get the rhythm going, get the confidence a little bit higher, getting it up a little bit.

“But Iga on this court is always dangerous. She’s always going to be a problem to any player she’s going to face.

“Now, the fact that she’s coming here with confidence being pretty low is probably something new for her. It’s also going to be interesting to see how she reacts to this mentally.”

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World No 1 Aryna Sabalenka will be the top seed and she is in good form as she won the Madrid Open while second seed Coco Gauff finished runner-up in Spain and Italy.

Mauresmo added: “Aryna has been unbelievable all season, basically.

“Coco is starting to put it together, and Madison [Keys] won in Australia [2025 Australian Open]. I’m still very interested to see if Iga can perform, and how she can turn the tables.

“It’s a very open women’s draw, and it’s a little bit more open this year.”