Madrid Open: Iga Swiatek makes Rafael Nadal revelation and sheds light on change in her game
Iga Swiatek has spoken about an important change she has been trying to implement in her game after she made a winning start to her 2026 Madrid Open campaign.
The world No 4 cruised to a 6-1, 6-2 victory against 98th-ranked Ukrainian qualifier Daria Snigur in the second round at Caja Magica.
Swiatek is chasing her second title at the clay-court WTA 1000 tournament in Madrid after her triumph in 2024.
The Pole is playing her second event since she hired Francisco Roig, a former coach of her idol Rafael Nadal, last month. She was beaten by Mirra Andreeva in the quarter-finals at the WTA 500 in Stuttgart last week.
The 24-year-old trained with Roig at Nadal’s academy in Mallorca prior to the clay-court season, and she also received some input from Nadal himself during some of her on-court sessions.
After beating Snigur in Madrid, Swiatek was asked about the tweak she has made to her service motion.
“I wouldn’t use past tense, because I feel like I’m still changing it, but this was the movement that I was supposed to already have in Stuttgart, but it didn’t really go as I wanted to,” said the six-time Grand Slam champion
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“I wasn’t quite sure, I mean, I analysed the matches after, and I realised that in Mallorca, I was serving a little bit differently. So today, I felt like this was it, and I just need to keep doing that, keep focusing on it, and remembering the right movement.
“Because in Stuttgart, I gotta say that I felt a that it’s gonna go a little bit more automatic, but a week in Mallorca is not enough for the body to remember the movement, so today, for sure, was a step forward.
“Honestly, you never know with your body how fast you’re gonna catch a movement, so some shots, it’s easier for me to change, some, a little bit harder.
“I’m not planning or expecting anything. But I, for sure, know that I have a lot of belief in this movement, and with my elbow being in this position and being more bent, so it’s something that we wanted to achieve [for] quite a long time, and when we adjusted my movement a little bit, it wasn’t really working.
“My hand always came back to the same position, but now we did a more drastic change, and I feel like it helped me to reset a little bit, and actually, from this reset, start the movement how I should.”
On Nadal, Swiatek added: “I don’t know if he’s watching or not.
“I know he’s super busy, even more busy, I think, than when he played. So we’re not in constant touch, but I know that I can always ask him anything if I want.
“So this is really comforting, and it also shows how good of a person he is, that he’s available.”
