Iga Swiatek surprised tennis fans by practicing at Roland Garros two weeks before the French Open.

Roland Garros shared a sneak peek at Iga Swiatek’s surprisingly early practice session before the French Open.

Iga Swiatek is battling through the worst slump of her professional career. The Queen of Clay no longer looks unstopped on her favorite surface and has not won a title since last year’s French Open.

Danielle Collins upset Swiatek in the third round of the Italian Open (Internazionali BNL d’Italia), giving Swiatek an extra long break before Roland Garros. It perhaps is not the best thing for a player struggling to find her form.

While some fans and media members speculated that Swiatek could add a tournament in the meantime, it is now apparent that she plans to spend her time in Paris gearing up for the second Grand Slam of the season.

On Thursday morning, the official Roland Garros social media channels shared a quick 27-second video of Swiatek training with her team inside an empty Philippe Chatrier. Swiatek arrived a full two weeks ahead of her first match at Roland Garros.

Four of Swiatek’s five Grand Slam titles have come at Roland Garros, including last year’s dominant victory over Jasmine Paolini. She is comfortable in the stadium and looks to regain her form before defending her title.

However, Swiatek has not won a tournament at any level since last year’s French Open. Even worse, she has not even made the finals of an event since last June.

There are plenty of reasons that can be attributed to Swiatek’s title drought. She has cited anxiety and a loss of confidence after dealing with her doping scandal, a coaching change, and family issues off the court.

Swiatek is currently the WTA World No. 2 with a record of 27-9 with zero titles. However, she will slide in the WTA Rankings after the conclusion of the Italian Open. She could be a fourth seed in the 2025 French Open.

The 2025 French Open runs from May 25 – June 8. Stay locked into Sports Illustrated’s Serve On SI for all of your tennis news from the court and beyond.

Tennis legend Chris Evert has voiced her concerns over Iga Swiatek’s form as she named her four favourites to win the women’s singles title at the 2025 French Open.

Swiatek has been the dominant WTA player on clay this decade, having claimed the Roland Garros crown in four of the last five years and at each of the previous three editions.

However, Swiatek has not reached a final at any tournament since her victory at the 2024 French Open.

The world No 2 was badly out of sorts in a shock 6-1, 7-5 defeat to Danielle Collins in the third round of the Italian Open — where she was the reigning champion.

Swiatek’s latest alarming defeat came after she was dismantled 6-1, 6-1 by Coco Gauff in the semi-finals of the Madrid Open.

The Polish star’s clay campaign began at the WTA 500 in Stuttgart, where she was upset by Jelena Ostapenko in the quarter-finals — her sixth loss in as many meetings with the Latvian.

Evert, who won a record seven French Open women’s titles, revealed she cannot choose between the leading contenders for the Paris Grand Slam.

“I don’t know how you can pick anybody between [Aryna] Sabalenka, Iga and Coco, and with Madison Keys really to me would be my fourth pick,” the 18-time major winner told Forbes.

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“I just don’t know how Iga is going to react. That, to me, is the unknown.

“We know what she is capable of, and with her past records, she’s brilliant at the French Open, but I just don’t know if she can find her A game, because she’s going to need it. It’s kind of like we’re seeing her C game right now.”

Evert has previously revealed she expects Swiatek to break her Roland Garros title record.

“I’m worried about it every day. When I put my head under the pillow I’m worried about Iga,” the American said.

“I think Iga will end up on double digits. I don’t just think she will beat my record here. I think it’s double digits.”

The only active WTA players to win the Roland Garros title are Swiatek, Ostapenko and Barbora Krejcikova.

Gauff was a French Open runner-up in 2022, Aryna Sabalenka’s best result is reaching the semi-finals in 2023.

Australian Open champion Madison Keys was a semi-finalist at Roland Garros in 2018.

Iga Swiatek avenged a heartbreaking Australian Open defeat in dramatic fashion at the Mutua Madrid Open on Wednesday, the defending champion rallying from a first-set bagel to defeat Madison Keys, 0-6, 6-3, 6-2.

“It was one of the weirdest matches I’ve ever played,” Swiatek said on court after the match. “Madi was just playing perfectly at the beginning and I wasn’t really proactive with anything. But I didn’t feel like it was that bad; I felt the ball well. It just went super long most of the time. I just tried to play a bit shorter, put it in. I think I let Madi do a little bit more mistakes by putting the ball back.”

The No. 2 seed has gone the distance in three of her four matches this week but saved her biggest comeback for the fifth-seeded Keys, edging into the semifinals after one hour and 46 minutes on Manolo Santana Stadium.

“The momentum changed but I’m not sure why!” said Swiatek. “I just stayed in there and obviously it wasn’t easy to lose the first set 6-0, but I just tried and at the end I’m happy I did.”

Keys’ Australian Open run saw her beat both Swiatek and world No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka, who was aiming to win a third straight title Down Under, but the American suffered a dip in form following a semifinal loss at the BNP Paribas Open. Winning just one match at each of her next two appearances in Miami and Charleston, Keys was looking for a reset ahead of the second major tournament of the seasons, and appeared to have found it at the Caja Magica.

Rolling into the last eight without dropping a set, she found herself across the net from Swiatek, who has enjoyed a solid, if unspectacular season. The former world No. 1 has reached at least the quarterfinals in all of her 2025 tournament appearances but has not reached a final since last June, when she won her fourth Roland Garros title.

Looking to lock back into dominant form on her favorite surface, the 23-year-old Swiatek suffered a sixth straight defeat to Jelena Ostapenko at the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix in Stuttgart and has been made to battle through multiple three-settes through her Madrid title defense. She rallied from a set and a break down against Alexandra Eala, who had shocked Swiatek last month in Miami, and needed a third set to solve Diana Shnaider in the fourth round.

That discomfort was magnified in the face of Keys’ heavy groundstrokes, allowing the American to roar through the opening set without losing a game.

“At least it’s fast!” Swiatek joked of the first-set bagel. “That’s the only positive thing, but for sure, staying on the court and having 0-6 is just weird.”

Though she continued to press Swiatek early in the second set, Swiatek quickly found her rhythm and took a 5-1 lead of her own before ultimately serving out the set two games later.

A tense deciding set unfolded as the pair traded service holds through the first four games. Keys saved two break points in the fifth but Swiatek outrallied the American to earn a third and a netted forehand from Keys gave Swiatek the first break. As Swiatek consolidated her lead Keys sought to amp up her aggression but struggled with consistency, striking two winners but four errors to put Swiatek a game from the finish line.

Keys kept things close as Swiatek served for the match, powering a forehand winner to save match point, but narrowly missed a backhand long. Swiatek, who played remarkably clean tennis in the final two sets, made no mistake on her second opportunity and edged over the finish line in just under two hours.

Having avenged her loss to Keys, Swiatek is guaranteed another opportunity for revenge as she awaits the winner of the quarterfinal between No. 4 seed Coco Gauff and No. 7 seed Mirra Andreeva. Both women won their last two matches against the Pole, Gauff at the 2024 WTA Finals and 2025 United Cup and Andreeva at this year’s Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships and BNP Paribas Open.

Paranoia has spread amongst tennis players after both Swiatek and Jannik Sinner failed drug tests without committing any intentional doping.

Iga Swiatek admits the strict doping protocols can be stressful for players but feels like she has “been through the worst” after surviving her positive test over contaminated melatonin.

Paranoia has spread amongst tennis players after both Swiatek and Jannik Sinner failed drug tests without committing any intentional doping.

Swiatek served a one-month suspension at the end of last year after the International Tennis Integrity Agency (ITIA) accepted that the over-the-counter melatonin she had taken as a sleep aid was contaminated with the banned substance trimetazidine.

Sinner is currently serving a three-month ban after testing positive twice for the banned substance clostebol, which entered his system via his physiotherapist, who was treating a cut on his hand with an over-the-counter spray that contains the substance.

“Been Through the Worst”- Iga Swiatek Opens Up About Her Doping Saga and How It Helped Her Bounce Back Stronger

There’s a famous line that says, “When the going gets tough, the tough get going.” Talking about being one of the toughest in women’s tennis, Iga Swiatek had to overcome a lot of hurdles in the last few months. Last year, Swiatek served a one-month ban after testing positive for a banned substance (TMZ), which is used as a heart medication. She was provisionally suspended on September 12, 2024, before she missed three tournaments (Korea Open, China Open, and Wuhan Open). That news was not announced until November, but later on, while explaining that situation, Swiatek said, the first three weeks were “pretty chaotic” and also admitted that it was probably the “worst time” of her life. But now that ‘worst phase’ in her life has helped her build a much stronger character!

In December 2024, while speaking about the doping ban, Swiatek said, “I was scared that most people were going to turn their back on me.” After that, in January 2025, during an interview with Tennis Insider Club, she explained her situation during that phase by saying, “You can be at peace with yourself that you didn’t do anything wrong, but no one actually treats you like that… Especially the people that are kind of prosecuting you. Even when you’re telling the truth, you feel like they treat you like a liar.“

After having fought for glory in the past 8 years, Swiatek thought people would then look at her a bit “differently” after that controversial incident. It was three weeks of “crying daily!“ She faced a lot of criticism in the tennis world, but there were few who stood beside her in her tough times. Fast forward to April 2025, and Swiatek is now keen to make a stronger comeback! After having played nearly 29 matches, she has managed to win 22 out of them. Although Swiatek hasn’t won a title so far, she has already made it three SFs this year. So, just before starting her campaign at the 2025 Madrid Open, Swiatek was seen highlighting a bit about how hard it was for her to make this comeback.

During a recent interview, she was asked to share her thoughts on the extra precautions that players have to take to adhere to anti-doping rules. In reply to that, she said, “Honestly, after a couple of years, you think about this all the time. It gives a little anxiety and I’m not only talking about me, because I kind of got used to the system and I’ve been through the worst, and I was able to come back from that and I was able to solve it, so I feel like nothing can kind of stop me.“

Ever since Iga Swiatek and Jannik Sinner’s failed doping tests, there has been paranoia spread amongst the tennis players. Sinner is currently serving a three-month ban after testing positive for a banned substance, Clostebol, last year. Talking about this state of panic in the tennis world after these two incidents, Swiatek said, “I know from even other players that it’s not easy, and the whole system is just tough because I didn’t have much control over what happened to me, and I can imagine some players, they’re always scared that it can happen to them.“

The whereabouts system used by anti-doping authorities dictates that an athlete must specify one hour of every single day of the year when they will be at a specific location and will be available for testing. Swiatek feels sometimes it becomes really “hard to catch up,” and she explained, “If we forget, we might get a no-show, and then three no-shows and it’s a ban.” So there always remains a bit of pressure that is not very easy to manage all the time. Even her peer, Ons Jabeur, was recently seen echoing the same sentiment on this, saying she’s a bit “worried” nowadays.

Amid all these, Swiatek is currently eyeing to retain her crown at the 2025 Madrid Open. What did she say before starting her campaign at the Spanish capital, though?

Iga Swiatek gears up to face the teenage sensation, Alexandra Eala, for the second time this season

Just a few weeks ago, the 19-year-old Filipina, Alexandra Eala, stunned everyone by defeating the five-time Grand Slam champion, Iga Swiatek, in the QF of the Miami Open by 6-2, 7-5. But we must not forget that Swiatek is a completely different player when it comes to the clay court. In fact, the 2024 champion has a win-loss record of 13-2 at the Miami Open. So, considering all these factors, even Eala claimed, “Even if it’s against the same player every time – doesn’t matter if I play her at the same time next year in Miami or in Madrid next year, it’s going to be a different story than the last one.“

Swiatek currently has a 7,383 ranking points, and if she manages to defend her title here, then she’d also manage to hold on to her number 2 spot no matter what in the WTA Rankings.

Interesting Fact: If Iga Swiatek wins the title this time, then she’d join the likes of Serena Williams and Simona Halep by becoming just the third woman in the tournament’s history to successfully defend her title in Madrid.

So, there are already a lot of expectations surrounding her. What does Swiatek have to say on this? “It’s crazy, but people are not aware when they think about other people that we’re also human. The expectations for sure are high, but they’re high every year for me since 2022. I’m just trying to keep my job and not really focus on what people say. Honestly, they have no idea what’s going on in any of our lives, so if they think some things, they can just think, but it’s not necessarily the truth. But for sure I’m grateful that they have high hopes.”

She also stated that she knows this place pretty well and hence, she’ll try to use all her experience to excel in this tournament. Swiatek also mentioned she doesn’t want to pay heed to what happened in Miami. Do you think she can beat Alexandra Eala this time?

Defending BNP Paribas Open champion Iga Swiatek returned to a court that has been quite friendly to her over the last few seasons.

That court is Stadium 1 at the Indian Wells Tennis Garden, where the Polish star has lifted not just one but two Tennis Paradise crowns in the last three years.

The 2022 and 2024 champion was back in action Friday afternoon in Indian Wells as she tunes up to try to become the first three-time women’s champion in BNP Paribas Open history.

Check out these photos from Swiatek’s first practice session in her return to the desert.