Mumbai: In her last press conference a few days ago, Iga Swiatek joked that she does not have a poker face. On Sunday, she proved it.
Calmness, anger, worry, relief, and eventually, joy. She showed it all as she took on world No.11 and former Wimbledon champion Elena Rybakina in the fourth round of the French Open. In an emotional roller coaster that lasted two hours and 30 minutes on Court Philippe Chatrier, Swiatek eventually completed a 1-6, 6-3, 7-5 win to move into the quarter-final.
As she hit a forehand cross-court winner on match point, Swiatek let out a roar, pumped her fists and thumped her chest. This was rare celebration for the defending champion chasing her fifth title so early in the tournament. But it was indicative of how deep she had to dig to get the win.
“She really pushed me and I needed to do something to get back in the game,” Swiatek told former world No.1 Mats Wilander in the courtside interview. “With (Rybakina) playing like that, I didn’t have a lot of hope but I just kept fighting and I’m happy I did that. After every game, I felt I could loosen up more and at the end I was able to play my game.”
The finish was definitely much better than the start.
Rybakina came out of the blocks quickly, striking the ball with near perfect accuracy. Swiatek struggled with her serve and could not keep up with the Kazakh’s firepower. On any other day, the Pole, the former world No.1, would have dealt with it. But the first set showed signs of the cracks developing in Swiatek’s game since the end of last year.
In November, Swiatek was given a one-month suspension after failing a doping test in August. To her peers, she had been given preferential treatment. The entire episode though caused her a great deal of stress. And that began to show in her play.
This season has been far from her best. She is now ranked world No.5 and has not won a title this year, but she had reached four semi-finals and three quarter-finals ahead of the French Open. Those are envious numbers for most, but not for the 24-year-old “perfectionist”.
That last 10 months have been far from perfect, and that perhaps, more than anything else, seems to have rattled her.
“She’s been going through complex things for a while,” former world No.1 and seven-time Grand Slam champion Justine Henin told Eurosport France last month. “I think one of the bases is her very perfectionist side. She wants to do things in a certain way.”
The prolonged debate after the positive dope test wore her down. She penned a note on social media in March, recalling a time when she spent “three weeks crying daily, and (not) want to step on the court”.
While perfection has been difficult to achieve off late for the five-time slam winner. But amidst the unforced errors and the three double faults in the fifth game of the second set (“I don’t think I’ve double-faulted three times in one game,” she said on court), she has managed to do something different.
When the chips are down, win ugly. Importantly, win.
With Rybakina taking a 2-0 lead in the second set, Swiatek started to hit with more topspin, grinding out more rallies to steadily play herself back into form. She won six of the next seven games to win the second set 6-3, forcing the decider.
They traded breaks as the decider progressed. At 5-5, Swiatek got the break and she served out for the match at 30 – not perfect, but good enough.
She will need more of that grinding spirit as she faces a tricky opponent in the quarter-final – Elena Svitolina.
Earlier in the day, world No.14 Svitolina pulled off a stunning come-from-behind 4-6, 7-6(6), 6-1 win over Italy’s 2024 runner-up Jasmine Paolini to reach her fifth French Open quarters.
The Ukrainian has proved a big-match player and could be a handful for Swiatek. But on the fabled Parisian clay, no active tennis player, not even Novak Djokovic, has won more French Open singles titles than her. Swiatek is on a 25-match winning run at Roland Garros.
Bad form or not, in Paris she is not backing down.
Indian challenge ends
India’s challenge ended on Sunday as Rohan Bopanna and Yuki Bhambri lost their respective men’s doubles matches.
Bopanna and Czech Adam Pavlasek lost 2-6, 6-7(5) to second seeds Henry Patten (GB) and Harri Heliovaara (Finland) in the third round. Bhambri and Robert Galloway lost 4-6, 4-6 to US pair Evan King and Christian Harrison.