Iga Swiatek shares immediate plans after shock Roland Garros defeat
Iga Swiatek suffered a crushing defeat at the hands of Marta Kostyuk to end her time at this year’s Roland Garros.
The fourth round defeat is the earliest the Pole has been knocked out of Roland Garros since her very first appearance back in 2019, and much of her performance was very worrying.
Swiatek fell to a 7-5, 6-1 defeat to in-form Kostyuk, which confirmed that she will end the clay court season without a single title.
Just hours after her exit was confirmed, Swiatek took to Instagram to share her upcoming plans ahead of the grass court season.
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On Instagram, the World No. 3 wrote: “Today’s match was challenging, and I definitely struggled to maintain my level. It’s never easy to walk off the court, especially knowing I can perform better.
“However, I understand that these moments are part of the journey and it may take some time to improve in certain areas but as aIways, I am determined to move forward.
“I’ll take some time off in the next few days and focus on the next part of the season. Thank you for your support and see you soon.”
Swiatek has every reason to be worried be her performance and she is not the only one.
Mats Wilander heavily criticised Swiatek’s performance and that was followed up by former British No. 1 Johanna Konta expressing her concerns.
Speaking on TNT Sports’ coverage of Roland Garros, Konta said: ““More than anything, I think it’s the way she lost. It’s one thing to lose a match, but you can clearly see she’s not feeling the best version of herself.
“You can lose tough matches, that happened when she was at her best, although it was very few. For me, what really struck me during that match against Marta Kostyuk was she never really accepted the tussle.
“She never really accepted the fight during the match. I feel a little bit for her because I feel like she was almost tricked early on in her career. She spent that period where she was so dominant, where she really suffocated players and she steamrolled them.
“I almost feel like if she’s not doing that I feel like she feels like she might be doing something wrong and that’s not the case. You could tell that she didn’t accept in engaging in the battle of the match. And I think that’s a tough place to be.
“You have to keep adapting and I feel like she’s not accepting to do that. It’s psychological and then it becomes physical. We knows there’s a chain link. If you’re playing with real anxiety within, your legs will feel heavy, your arms will go. It’s a massive link.”
Swiatek’s next tournament is confirmed to be Bad Homburg, which takes place a week before Wimbledon. She will then head to SW19, where she hopes to defend her Grand Slam title.
