Former world No 1 reveals Iga Swiatek’s ‘big problem’ her opponents are exploiting
Tennis legend Mats Wilander has revealed he thinks Iga Swiatek has a “big problem” in her game that “most players” have identified and started attacking when playing the Pole.
Swiatek has not reached a final at any of the 10 WTA Tour events she has played since winning her fourth French Open title and fifth Grand Slam in June last year.
The world No 2 holds a 21-6 record from the six tournaments she has played so far this year, including the United Cup.
The 23-year-old has reached semi-finals at the Australian Open, the Qatar Open and the Indian Wells Open, while she exited at the quarter-final stage in Dubai and Miami.
Swiatek suffered arguably the most surprising defeat of her career in Miami as she fell 2-6, 5-7 to Filipino wildcard Alex Eala, who was ranked 140th at the time.
The former world No 1 will next compete on clay — a surface on which she has dominated since winning her maiden French Open title in 2020.
As well as winning a third consecutive Roland Garros crown in 2024, Swiatek won the back-to-back WTA 1000 clay-court events in Madrid and Rome.
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In an interview with TNT Sports, Wilander assessed that Swiatek’s opponents have been targeting her forehand and went on to make a prediction about her clay-court campaign.
“(On Swiatek’s forehand) That’s the big problem I think she has,” the seven-time major champion said.
“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.
“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.
“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.
“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.”
Swiatek is set to make her first appearance of the clay season at the Stuttgart Grand Prix, a WTA 500 event which will begin on April 14.
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