Day 8 of the 2026 French Open saw yet another massive upset in the women’s draw as four-time French Open champion Iga Swiatek lost 7-5, 6-1 against Marta Kostyuk in the fourth round. This is only the fourth time that the Pole has lost a match at the French Open in her career, being one of the dominant players on clay in the last few years. After her loss, the former World No.1 opened up on her feelings, making a somewhat surprising confession as to her state of mind while playing the match.

“I was very tense. I feel like I can work on that”, said Swiatek in her press conference as she reflected on her loss against the Ukrainian. The Pole’s confession of feeling tense comes as somewhat of a surprise, as this is someone who has won as many as six Grand Slam titles and played several big matches in her career.

However, in a more optimistic mood, she added, “Maybe it’s not going to take one week or one month. Maybe it’s going to take even a season or something. But I need to believe that I can work through this and not be thrown off so quickly. There’s a reason for it, so there’s a solution too.”

Speaking further about her loss, Swiatek admitted she was not a good loser, as she took negative on-court results quite hard and found it difficult to cope, given her higher expectations of herself. Speaking to the press, she said, “It wasn’t a good day at the office. When it comes to defeats, I take them even harder. Sometimes it’s tough to let go.” She also described the challenging conditions in the match: “Today it wasn’t pleasant, because I know I’m capable of more. I did everything I could to cope, but it was tough.”

The Pole was not wrong when she spoke about her own capabilities, as she has been a dominant force on the Parisian clay, winning the title four times, and going into the previous match, her win-loss record at Roland Garros was 43-3. She even had a favorable head-to-head history against Kostyuk, not dropping a single set against the Ukrainian in their previous three encounters.

However, on this occasion, the fourth seed felt the nerves as she talked about it in the press conference, failing to clinch some crucial moments in the match.

Iga Swiatek Did Not Capitalize on the Crucial Situations in Her Match Against Kostyuk

In her prime, Swiatek was one of the best frontrunners on the WTA Tour. Once the Pole got a lead, she did not let up, inflicting many 6-0 and 6-1 sets on her opponents. However, over the last year or so, the Pole has lost her ability to hold on to advantages, as evidenced by her loss to Kostyuk as well.

The match started with six service holds in the first set, following which there were a series of successive breaks, with Swiatek serving for the set at 5-4. This is where her nerves kicked in, and she failed to hold her serve, and Kostyuk won three successive games, to clinch the set 7-5. The Pole started the second set well, breaking the Ukrainian’s serve in the first game, but, yet again, the Pole failed to hold her own serve. Following that service break, Kostyuk went on a spree, winning five games consecutively to win the second set 6-1.

Swiatek’s serve has lost its potency over the course of the last year,  and was seen in this match as well. In the match, the Pole won just over 40 percent of her service points. Under so much pressure on her serve, the Pole was always keen on the return games, desperate for quick service breaks, which led her to abandon her topspin and go for flatter shots in search of winners. Also, this was an in-form Kostyuk that she faced on this occasion, someone unbeaten on clay this year, having already won titles in Rouen and Madrid.