It was a disappointing 25th birthday for Iga Świątek, as she crashed out of the 2026 French Open, a tournament she’s historically been successful at. The Pole, who was among the top favorites to win the trophy lost her fourth-round match in straight sets to Ukraine’s Marta Kostyuk.
After the 7-5, 6-1 defeat, Świątek opened up about her below-par performance that resulted in her undoing in the match.
Iga Świątek Points Out What Went Wrong During Her French Open Loss
Świątek was chasing her fifth Coupe Suzanne Lenglen at the ongoing event. She was also looking to end her title drought on her favorite surface, having not won a single title on clay since the 2024 French Open. Notably, the Pole has yet to win a title this year.
After yet another year without success on clay, Świątek dissected her performance against Kostyuk while noting that she won’t be diving deep into her on-court woes. “I mean, we’re not in therapy session, so I’m going to keep it simple but obviously there could be many reasons,” she said in her post-match press conference. “I’d rather work on it on my own.”
Over the past couple of years, the 25-year-old has struggled to find consistency. In part, she has attributed her dips to difficulty in managing stress during matches. After an unsuccessful Sunshine Double earlier this year, she said, “Tennis feels complicated in my head” in terms of mentality. She again pointed to the lingering issues in the aftermath of her latest defeat.
“It is harder a bit to handle stress for me in like last year. Especially, I feel like the peak was in the US (Indian Wells and Miami) this year. I feel today I felt off and did mistakes that I didn’t want to do.”
“I wanted to play safe, but the ball flew everywhere, and suddenly these feelings came back,” Świątek said.
Despite engaging in extensive self-talk and introspection during the match, the champion said she was unable to resolve her mental struggles. “I tried to work on it with my dialogue inside, but it was tough today. It all went drastically down, and I played worse and worse.”
Świątek will now shift her focus to the grass swing as the reigning Wimbledon champion. The player plans to train on grass outside of Poland. In 2025, she made Mallorca her training base before resuming her campaign.
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