Retreat to Move Forward

Iga Swiatek made a critical adjustment against Elena Rybakina to keep her run at Roland Garros alive.

PARIS, France — The first set went so badly for Iga Swiatek against Elena Rybakina on Sunday afternoon that I started combing through her scorelines from past years at Roland Garros, searching for a pattern that could explain the dramatic scene taking shape in front of me on Court Philippe Chatrier.

I found a theory that seemed to check out: Swiatek, who coincidentally turned 24 yesterday, had won 24 straight French Open matches to win the last three titles in a row and reach the third round this year. But upon closer examination, Swiatek had somehow managed to avoid facing any highly-ranked power player during that run of invincibility. She hadn’t faced the likes of Rybakina—or Aryna Sabalenka, or Madison Keys, or Jelena Ostapenko, or Karolina Pliskova, or Liudmila Samsonova, or Danielle Collins, or Ekaterina Alexandrova—and so on, the practitioners of what Mary Carillo famously coined “Big Babe Tennis.”

When Swiatek did play a huge hitter during this run, it was usually when they weren’t at the peak of their powers—and still, those players tripped her up, like when a 19-year-old Zheng Qinwen took a set off her in 2022 when Zheng was still ranked outside the Top 70. Most memorably, the closest Swiatek had come to defeat during her three-peat here was in the second round last year against Naomi Osaka, a huge hitter on the road back from maternity leave. Osaka, despite being ranked 134th and never having made it to even a fourth round here, was able to dominate Swiatek for the middle of that match, and even held a match point before Swiatek ultimately prevailed 7-6(1), 1-6, 7-5.

Maybe Swiatek’s luck had just run out and she was finally getting exposed. Rybakina was blasting serves, teeing off on returns, and hitting shot after shot cleanly in her high strike zone, as Swiatek’s famous spin left her balls hanging like klopsiki ready to be devoured

Rybakina had raced to a 5-0 lead in just 19 minutes.

Elena Rybakina hitting a presumably great shot against Iga Swiatek. (Photo by Regina Cortina)

Swiatek saved a couple of set points in a long sixth game and held to get herself on the board, but Rybakina then held, broke, and held again to win the next three games in rapid succession and extend her lead to 6-1, 2-0. I was reminded that Rybakina was 2-0 against Swiatek on clay, and had won their only prior meeting at a major, beating Swiatek in the same round of the 2023 Australian Open.

All of this meant it was getting late very early for defending champion Swiatek, whose bright outfit was starting to look more and more like a sunset.

Iga Swiatek contemplating how to adjust while getting clobbered early. (Photo by Regina Cortina)

In an interview with Bounces after the match, I asked Swiatek’s coach Wim Fissette if he had been “worried” at this point.

“I'm not a person that gets ‘worried,’” Fissette replied. “It's just that we were thinking about solutions. In one way, Rybakina couldn’t do much wrong in the first set and the beginning of the second. On the other hand, Iga was not bringing enough.”

Fissette had a solution in mind: as her time was running out on the scoreboard, Swiatek could buy herself more time on the return by standing much further behind the baseline to return than she normally does.

“Much more back on the first serve, to give a little bit more chances to get into the rallies and play more rallies,” Fissette said. “In tennis, you know that there's always a moment that you can change the game. Even in every 6-1, 6-1 match there are always a few crucial points—and you need to be ready for them. And that's what I felt: even if Iga was down 6-1, 2-0, she was still, mentally, really into the match. It's not like she was mentally out or didn't believe in it; she was ready for the opportunity she would get. That's how I felt, and that's the key in matches like this.”

[Programming note: the rest of my wide-ranging interview with Wim Fissette today will be published here tomorrow for paid Bounces subscribers, so be sure to subscribe so you don’t miss out!]

Swiatek, who said with some exaggeration that her deeper return position made her “like Daniil [Medvedev],” a famous backwall hugger, admitted that she’s been stubborn about making the adjustment.

One of Billie Jean King’s go-to quotes is that “champions adjust,” and that’s just what Swiatek did.

“I mean, I've been practicing that a little bit; Wim, it was his plan to kind of convince me sometimes to try it out,” Swiatek said. “But I never really thought that—I wasn't sure if—that's my thing, you know? Because I remember a few years back, when I started being more aggressive, I started winning more.”

But Swiatek admitted she saw the logic of it, and credited the mid-match suggestion from Fissette for turning the match around.

“I think girls are serving faster now, and everybody is developing,” she continued. “There are some limits to what you can react to. I think the coaching actually really helped me today, because I wouldn't come up with this myself. Even though I practice it a little bit, it's still like a weird thing for me to do. But for sure it helped. Yeah, it gave me more time to just play back some balls.”

Swiatek’s fans rejoiced at their player’s willingness to make the crucial adjustment they had often begged for her to do.

For her part, Rybakina said she saw Swiatek become “more aggressive,” which also computes in a way: by standing back, Swiatek wasn’t falling behind in rallies as quickly, and was able to play better, more attacking shots earlier in the points.

Rybakina also said her redlining start had been “using a lot of energy” to hit with full power.

“I knew that I might have a drop,” she said.

That drop came abruptly, in the form of a high volley on break point at 2-1 in the second set which Rybakina duffed into the net to level the score.

“I hit the volley on top of the net and I lost it,” Rybakina said. “So it did turn around.”

Once Swiatek had a foothold, she dug into an 18-point game at 2-2. Once she held, she was off and running, and took five games in a row before ultimately taking the second set 6-3.

The third set was on level terms throughout, with the score always staying within one game throughout. But once she broke Rybakina at 5-5, Swiatek was able to hold, finishing the match with a whipping inside-in forehand out of Rybakina’s reach and a full-bodied roar to celebrate her 1-6, 6-3, 7-5 victory.

“Yeah, it means a lot,” Swiatek said. “I think I needed that kind of win to like feel these feelings that I'm able to win under pressure, and even if it's not going the right way, you know, still turn the match around to win it. For sure it's a great confirmation for me. Yeah, I, for sure, wanted to have a match like that. Obviously it's great to also have full control over the match, but against great players, it's not always going to be possible. I'm happy that I fought, and I also problem-solved on court.”

Iga Swiatek’s French Open win streak, now 25, exceeds her age by one.

Thanks for reading Bounces! If you’re enjoying stories like this and want to support my work so I can continue to bring more of them to you, please subscribe to help keep Bounces going, and maybe even reach the top spot in Substack Sports’ rising chart one of these days soon!

Scroll beyond the paywall below for a look ahead at four fourth round Matches to Watch on Day 9 here at Roland Garros. -Ben