Andy Roddick thinks Iga Swiatek needs to figure some things out after her US Open exit, and he’s not convinced Qinwen Zheng deserves it either.
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“Credits to her. But really, it’s Iga that didn’t play well. A qualifier through to quarterfinals? Been done before. She’d be the 1st qualifier to win the tournament since 2021? Womp womp,” Roddick said on his Served podcast.
Initially, it went the opposite way from what Roddick’s comment made it sound like. Swiatek was up 5-0 in the first set against Zheng. But she couldn’t keep it going, losing 13 of the next 16 games to fall 5-7, 3-6. That also means she’s now gone three straight Grand Slams without reaching the quarterfinals.
Roddick had already been talking about Swiatek before this match even happened. He defended her, pointing out how her six majors are solid against legends like Maria Sharapova and Kim Clijsters. He wanted people to give her more credit, but watching her collapse from 5-0 up must have stung.
Roddick also has a point about qualifiers making deep runs. It isn’t such a rare sight anymore. Emma Raducanu already did the whole thing back in 2021; she came through qualifying and won the US Open outright. So to him, Zheng reaching the quarterfinals just doesn’t feel like the same shock it used to be.
He wasn’t ignoring what Zheng actually did, either. He called it “credit to Qinwen” more than once, and admitted a qualifier reaching this deep is still something special to watch. He also said, “Good to see her back… She’s here for the real deal.”
The former world No. 4 and reigning Olympic gold medalist has struggled with injury in recent years. The main injury was an elbow surgery in 2025, which forced her to come through qualifying at the US Open because of the drop in rankings. Getting back to this stage at all is part of the story here, not just the result against Swiatek.
But Roddick’s focus kept snapping back to Swiatek. He didn’t think this was about tennis level at all. “She’s been playing well for five weeks now,” he said, “so it is something else.” That is the part he seems most interested in. Swiatek has just come off a title in Canada and a semifinal in Cincinnati. Thus whatever happened against Zheng wasn’t a form issue, per him.
Other voices, via Tennis 365, around the tournament leaned the opposite way, giving Zheng far more of the credit. Mats Wilander, a former world No. 1 and now a tennis analyst, called her performance “commendable,” pointing out how fit and dangerous she looks once she finds her rhythm.
Johanna Konta, a former British No. 1, broke down exactly how Zheng’s game caused problems, heavy on the forehand and tricky on the backhand, and said Swiatek simply “couldn’t find an answer.”
Roddick isn’t denying any of that happened. He’s just not ready to hand the entire story over to Zheng’s serve and forehand. For him, Swiatek is the one who could have played better.