Iga Świątek has not looked like herself lately. Over the past few months, the former world No. 1 has struggled with her form, suffering early losses in major tournaments. This sudden drop has left many in the tennis world wondering what is going wrong with her game, including Coco Gauff’s former coach, Brad Gilbert.
Iga Świątek’s ‘Vulnerable’ Form Puts Her Major Championship Hopes on the Line
Tennis analyst and former ATP world No. 4, Gilbert, recently pointed out exactly what he sees as missing in Świątek’s game, noting that it looks “blank” and “blurry” compared to the dominant way she played in previous years.
His main worries are her serve and her defense against heavy hitters. “I mean, she’s doing some things that make you wonder. Obviously, this surface [clay] is the most familiar to her, but I’m a little concerned about the serve,” Gilbert said on Tennis Channel. “I’m also a little concerned about her ability to absorb pace. She used to do that so much better, and now when balls are coming at her fast, she doesn’t seem to handle the pace as well.”
Despite these issues, Gilbert added that tennis is a game of momentum, noting that she is just one big win away from restoring her confidence.
Former US Open champion CoCo Vandeweghe also chimed in. “Well, I think her game is soft right now. I think it’s very much vulnerable. There are a lot of question marks. For being a Grand Slam champion, and she will always be a champion, there are a lot of scary ghosts. It’s like Sam Darnold when he played for the Jets; it’s like she’s out there ‘seeing ghosts,'” she added.
Over the past ten months, Świątek has fallen short at most of the biggest events. After winning Wimbledon in the summer of 2025, her momentum stalled during the hard-court season. The Pole was knocked out in the quarterfinals of the US Open by Amanda Anisimova and failed to advance past the group stage at the year-end WTA Finals in Riyadh.
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And those struggles followed her into 2026, when she lost in the quarterfinals to Elena Rybakina at the Australian Open. Her usually dominant run through the springtime “Sunshine Double” was also cut short, ending with a quarterfinal exit to Elina Svitolina at Indian Wells and a surprising early loss to Magda Linette in Miami. At the same time, world No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka won both. The 24-year-old also fell behind in the rankings, from No. 2 to 4.
To recover from this, Świątek has made a major change. She hired Rafael Nadal’s former coach francisco Roig, and trained under Nadal at his academy in Mallorca, Spain. Now, she is at the Madrid Open, ready to face Daria Snigur today in the Round of 64. After that, she will play in Rome to get more matches under her belt and build up to the main event: Roland Garros.
