Mumbai: “Like a cold shower”. It’s a phrase Iga Swiatek has used at least twice over the last couple of months. Once, speaking in Stuttgart and summarising how she felt earlier in the year when she wasn’t playing well. And then, speaking in Paris a few days ago and describing her performance in Rome last year leading into the French Open.
That was when she was very un-Iga like, especially on clay where she had no title to show, and in a Slam which she entered as a three-time defending champion and exited in the semi-final. Far from being the red-hot force that sizzled on the red dirt, Swiatek was, well, cold.
She’s warming up alright again – not quite while being at her blistering best yet but flashes of it are evident.
On a scorching Monday afternoon in Paris, the Pole swept past Australian wildcard Emerson Jones 6-1, 6-2 in 60 minutes in her first sighting at the French Open since working with Francisco Roig, one of Rafael Nadal’s long-time coaches, ahead of the clay swing.
Not much can be read into a contest between a four-time champion of Roland Garros and a debutant. A clear indication, however, of Swiatek’s resurgence on the surface in which she once had a stranglehold on came in the tournament leading into this Slam.
In Rome, where she crashed out in the second round last year, Swiatek made the semi-finals. It was a noteworthy outcome on two counts, given the kind of opponents she lost to this season (Maria Sakkari in Doha and Magda Linette in Miami), and given the kind of opponents she beat in Rome (Naomi Osaka and Jessica Pegula, who had beaten her back-to-back before).
One of the 24-year-old’s most bullying weapons during the phase in which she ruled on clay was the forehand. It carried oodles of spin, sting, power, precision, and cornered most players to a hapless spot on the court.
Like Jones in Paris. Swiatek launched 17 winners, 15 of them off the forehand including the putaway that sealed the match. Jones had better speeds behind her forehands, but her opponent had greater revs.
On clay, the spin-power combination from the forehand can be lethal. Swiatek would kill battles with it in the past. She felt like it was coming alive once again in Rome.
“I’ve been playing a bit differently, more similar to a couple of years ago,” she said in Rome. “More like a clay-court player.”
It’s a trait Swiatek had somewhat drifted away from in the quest to add new things to her game. Under renowned coach Wim Fissette, the Pole won her first Wimbledon title last year, but lost her edge on clay (she hasn’t won a clay-court event since her last French Open title in 2024). After an under-par start to the season and a second-round loss to Linette in Miami, that partnership ended.
Enter Roig. And Nadal. And his academy.
Roig was part of Team Nadal from 2005 to 2022, and most recently worked with Emma Raducanu. The Spaniard was an interesting choice for a player of the former world No.1’s calibre, but Swiatek knew just what she wanted.
“I was basically looking for someone with a good eye, really technical, but also a person that is experienced enough to help me through some different kind of situations,” she said last month in Stuttgart, her first tournament after the coaching shakeup.
Her idea of spending a couple of weeks at the Rafa Nadal Academy would come even before that. On the back of her fruitless 2025 clay swing, Swiatek realised she needed to change something in her preparation for the surface. And so, heading to Mallorca and getting a kickstart with Roig on the academy’s clay courts felt like the right plan.
There was a bonus in store. Nadal also joined in. Swiatek, who idolises the 14-time French Open champion, was all too glad to get “some feedback from him” during her hitting sessions.
Swiatek has carried all of that into this clay swing, which has gradually improved for her from Stuttgart to Madrid to Rome. The start has been solid in Paris, although her draw is tricky with plenty of potential challenges from as early as the third round.
Swiatek knows she can’t go back to being a clay-court monster overnight. The qualities that made her one, though, are beginning to take shape again.
