Iga Swiatek could have made history at the French Open this year. If she had gone all the way, she would have become the first woman in the Open Era to clinch the title for the fourth consecutive time. However, despite having bigger targets already set in front of her eyes before stepping onto the Philippe-Chatrier, she had quite a few question marks in her mind. Reason? She hadn’t won any title since her 2024 French Open triumph. Considering all these factors, when she was asked to share her optimism surrounding her title defense, she said, “Obviously it would be stupid to expect a lot because I’m not able to play my game right now.” However, seeing her impressive start at this tournament—winning the first three matches in straight sets—her fans had yet again started to dream about seeing her lift the title on June 7. But the world number one, Aryna Sabalenka, spoiled the party. What are the reactions coming in seeing Swiatek’s failure to defend her title?

Well, although it was pretty much tight in the first set, Sabalenka got the edge over there. But after that, the Pole made a strong comeback and stole the second set by 6-4 before shockingly going down in the third by 0-6. The match ended 7-6(1),4-6,6-0 in favor of the Belarusian. This is now Iga Swiatek’s first defeat at Roland Garros since 09.06.2021 (1457 days ago). Before this, she had a 26-match winning streak. No wonder social media got flooded with reactions.

But amid all these, Roger Federer-backed sportswear brand, On, showcased their support for the Pole through a heartfelt post. They shared a picture of Iga Swiatek on their IG handle with the caption, “Once a champion. Always a champion. Onwards and upwards, Iga.” Swiatek switched from ASICS to On in March 2023. With this switch, she became the first female athlete to be sponsored by the brand. Showcasing her delight with this new partnership, she had then said, “I’m very excited to be the first female player to join with On.“

Although fans have had complaints against the design of their kits, Iga Swiatek has time and again expressed her gratitude towards the brand. Per CNN Sports, she once said, “I feel really taken care of, which is sometimes a struggle when you work with companies that have 20 other athletes just in one sport.” What also impressed Swiatek was the brand’s “personal approach” and how they saw her “first like a person, but not mainly as a machine to win.” Safe to say, she was spot on with her assessment, given how the brand expressed their support after her loss. As for her assessment of her performance, that, too, was quite accurate. 

Iga Swiatek failed to “push back”

With this win, Aryna Sabalenka has now taken her H2H to 5-8 against Iga Swiatek. However, this defeat has now also confirmed Swiatek’s shocking slide in the WTA Rankings. After her failure to defend her title at Roland Garros, the Pole is now all set to drop down to number 7. With this dip, it’s now almost certain that she will face Sabalenka as early as the QF in the upcoming tournaments.

Her current schedule will take her to the Bad Homburg WTA event, where she’ll start her grass campaign. Talking about her plans for the next few weeks, she said, “I’m going to have a few days off, but the coaches will plan that. Hopefully, we’re going to have some decent kind of little preseason on grass, because it’s always been pretty hard to have that, especially when I want to be at home for a little bit.” That being said, the Pole doesn’t feel like going home at the moment and is mulling over the idea of practicing somewhere in Europe.

Speaking about her French Open run, she said, “It wasn’t a bad tournament, but obviously, yeah, not the result I wanted.” As for what went wrong in the third set, Swiatek explained, “I think I lost my intensity a bit, and she just played, you know, like pretty strong as she did in the first set, but I didn’t react to that well and just couldn’t push back.” Safe to say, the 6-0 set is going to be a big talking point within Swiatek’s team for a few weeks at least.

The third set worried CoCo Vandeweghe, too. “Six points in that third set, that is complete domination of a former number one in the world and someone who has dominated on clay,” she said, warning that the Pole will have to put in plenty of work for the rest of the year. She claimed, “I think Iga is feeling the pressure of no titles so far and hasn’t played her best tennis or anywhere near it.” Having said that, she also questioned if Swiatek’s downfall now means a “changing of the guard” on clay. Do you think Iga Swiatek can make a strong comeback on grass?