Iga Swiatek reveals mindset and tactical shifts she has made for French Open title defence

Ewan West
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Iga Swiatek talks to the media
Iga Swiatek speaks at a press conference

Iga Swiatek has revealed she has been working on shifting her attitude ahead of her French Open title defence as she declared she intends to be more positive and brave on court.

The Polish star is the three-time defending champion at Roland Garros and has triumphed at four of the last five editions of the Paris major.

Swiatek arrives at this year’s French Open after a difficult 12 months by her lofty standards, though, as she has not reached a final since winning last year’s tournament.

The five-time Grand Slam champion dropped to fifth in the world rankings after a struggling badly in a 1-6, 5-7 third round loss to Danielle Collins at the Italian Open earlier this month.

The 23-year-old looks set to have to navigate a daunting draw to win her fifth French Open crown.

Swiatek will begin her campaign against Rebecca Sramkova, and could face Marta Kostyuk in the third round and either Elena Rybakina or her nemesis Jelena Ostapenko in the last 16.

She is projected to meet Jasmine Paolini in the quarter-finals and world No 1 Aryna Sabalenka in the last four, while second seed Coco Gauff could await in the final.

In her pre-tournament press conference, Swiatek was asked about her mentality following her disappointing defeat in Rome.

“Well for sure after Rome, I had a lot of time to think about how I played and what my attitude was,” Swiatek said.

“So, for sure I focused on changing some stuff and also having more intensity because I feel like I’m not starting the matches well.

“And then obviously I got tight a little bit when I played with Danielle, but yeah, these are things that any athlete needs to work on, I would say.

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“Sometimes it’s easier, sometimes it’s harder, but I got to the point where I just knew I needed to change something in my attitude and maybe get a little bit more energetic before the matches.

“So yeah, I think just coming to that conclusion and accepting it and understanding it helped a lot but for sure, the main work I will have to do on matches now to change that a little bit. But on the practice court, I have been feeling great and my tennis is good, so just need to do that on a match.”

The world No 5 also asserted that she wants to be more proactive instead of being concerned with making mistakes.

“Well, it’s not that complicated, strategic and tactical, you’re working with yourself, so it’s not like you have tactics you know,” she explained.

“But for sure, I want to be more positive about what I’m doing and not focus too much on the mistakes a little bit and kind of just go for it, be more brave. Yeah, we’ll see.”

On the challenge of being a perfectionist, Swiatek added: “I don’t think it’s possible [to not be] a perfectionist, but for sure there are ways to control it a bit more.

“But lately, when I made some mistakes on the court, I focused on them a little bit too much.

“I needed to realise that by myself, even though my team kind of told me that it’s happening.”

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