Iga Swiatek’s struggles seem to be far from over now. She had to serve a one-month suspension in the later phases of the 2024 season due to the doping case. Highlighting the tough times, the Pole said, “For sure, it wasn’t easy; it was probably, like, the worst time in my life. It got pretty awkward.” In 2025, although she has played seven tournaments, Swiatek is yet to win a title this season. Adding more to her sorrows, Swiatek’s grandfather passed away just before the Madrid Open. Now, following her straight sets defeat to Coco Gauff in the SF, there have been some reports coming out about the possibility of her skipping a Grand Slam event in 2025, if she fails to win titles in her next two clay court tournaments. 

According to various reports coming out from the Polish media, Swiatek’s team has decided that she’ll take part in the remaining tournaments on clay, i.e., the Italian Open and the Roland Garros. However, if the ‘Queen of Clay’ fails to put up an impressive performance in these two events, then she could well take a longer break to rest and prepare herself well enough for the 2025 US Open. So, there could be a chance of her skipping the Wimbledon Championships this year.

Highlighting all of these, the Polish site Onet claimed, “As we hear unofficially, everything will depend on the results in Rome and Paris. In the event of a defeat, [Iga] Swiatek may consider giving up playing on grass, there are not many points to lose here, and use this time for a longer vacation, to return to hard courts with new strength and properly prepare for the US Open. But Team Swiatek will wait until the very end with this decision.”

Interestingly, in 2024, her coach, Wim Fissette, assured her fans that their “goal” will now be to do “better on the faster surfaces.” These rumors surrounding her longer break have now brought in dark clouds about her participation in the tournaments after the French Open. What did Iga Swiatek say after a 1-6,1-6 defeat to Gauff within just 64 minutes of the match?

This was Gauff’s first win over Swiatek on clay, and with this win, she has now taken her H2H record to 3-11 against the Pole. Swiatek looked visibly upset with her performance in this match. In fact, she even looked a bit emotional in the second set, covering her face with a towel as she broke down in tears during the changeover at 6-1, 3-0.

Later on, while sharing her thoughts about her performance in this match, Swiatek said, “Honestly, there’s nothing like to walk through because it was all pretty much the same from the beginning to the end. I couldn’t really get my level up.” She heaped praise on the American for her incredible brand of tennis. Was it just a bad day in the office for the former world number one?

“Honestly, I don’t know now. I feel like I haven’t been moving well, and the tennis also was like on and off for most of the tournament. So I wasn’t really sure what I have in my toolbox, you know, but yeah, for sure, like I didn’t even have a plan B because nothing was working today…Today, everything kind of collapsed tennis-wise,” said the Pole.

Iga Swiatek has a win-loss record of just 26-8 this season, and with just a few days away from kickstarting actions in Rome, what does the tennis expert say about Swiatek’s performance in this match? Are they a bit concerned?

“(Iga) Swiatek was out of sorts” – Tennis experts look a bit concerned with her performance against Coco Gauff

If the American star, Coco Gauff, manages to win the final match at the Madrid Open against Aryna Sabalenka (1), then she’d overtake Iga Swiatek to become the new world number 2. Currently, Gauff is at 6.603 points, and she’ll gain a further 350 points if she wins the title on Saturday. After defeating Swiatek in straight sets, even Gauff was heard admitting, “Obviously she wasn’t maybe playing her best tennis.“

However, she also mentioned, “I think I made her uncomfortable, and honestly, just today was just a good day for me.” What do the tennis experts have to say about Swiatek’s performance in this match? Reacting to this one-sided match which saw Swiatek broken five times and winning only just six points across the American’s seven service games, Annabel Croft, a former world number 24 in the WTA rankings, said, “She was very dominant at this stage last year, and we were looking at — thinking how can players stay on court with her on a clay court because she was just a level above everybody else, but she has unraveled.“

She mentioned how there have been multiple occasions recently where Swiatek has given away the matches pretty cheaply against some of her weaker opponents. Further analyzing her game, Croft added, “I think when the forehand goes, it goes big time and it’s almost like she can’t stop the rot. It’s like the computer is malfunctioning and it needs a reboot, and she starts to get more and more panicky, and she rushes through.” Talking about her upcoming challenges, Croft said, “She’s defending huge amounts of points but also a Grand Slam title. She’s a perfectionist, this is not where she wants her tennis to be, so very interesting times to watch what happens with her.“

Even the former world number 17, Colin Fleming, said that Iga Swiatek’s forehand seems to be her biggest concern at the moment. “Swiatek was out of sorts, she really looked like she was struggling on her forehand.” Fleming was surprised to see the number of errors she made on her forehand while rushing between points. He called it a “shocking performance” from a five-time Grand Slam champion. Do you agree with the same?