Iga Swiatek and the power of positive thinking

What does the four-time champion, who last year became the first woman to complete a successful three-peat at Roland-Garros since Justine Henin in 2007, love so much about playing in Paris? 

“Honestly, everything,” she told reporters with a smile, while fielding questions inside the tournament’s crowded main interview room on Friday. “I love playing tennis here.” 

Though Swiatek hasn’t lived up to her own lofty expectations on the clay this spring, there is hope that sliding her feet on the Parisian clay will be the spark that helps her dial in her laser focus once again. 

Her situation hasn’t been dire, but it has been surprising: Swiatek enters Roland-Garros without a clay court title under her belt for the first time since she won her maiden title here, as the world No.54 in 2020. 

Disappointed by her performances in Stuttgart, Madrid and Rome, where she failed to reach a single final, the 23-year-old continues to seek solutions. 

“After Rome, I had a lot of time to think about how I played and what my attitude was,” she said. “For sure I focused on changing some stuff.” 

Insiders have also noticed that Swiatek has been a little on edge of late, and believe that a return to Paris, where she holds a mind-boggling 35-2 lifetime record, could be the perfect elixir. 

“For her it’s all about mentality,” former world No.1 Caroline Wozniacki said this week in a conference call to promote TNT’s coverage of Roland-Garros. “If she can stay loose, if she can stay relaxed, if she can stay happy, her game comes together.”

Wozniacki believes that there is nothing missing from Swiatek’s game at the moment. She thinks Swiatek simply needs to relax and let her epic tennis flow. 

“How is she going to go into Roland-Garros?” she asked. “Is she going to feel a ton of pressure and feel tight because she’s won there so many times, or is she going to go in there and say ‘You know what? I’ve won here so many times I can relax and enjoy, because this is my surface and everyone else should be afraid of me.’” 

When you’ve played close to perfection on a surface for so long, the expectations tend to get higher. A self-described perfectionist, Swiatek admitted on Friday that she tends to judge herself too harshly when she’s not playing the type of mind-boggling tennis she knows she is capable of. 

“I don't think it's possible [to not be] a perfectionist, but for sure there are ways to control it a bit more,” she said. “But lately, when I made some mistakes on the court, I focused on them a little bit too much. 

“I needed to realise that by myself, even though my team kind of told me that it's happening.” 

Now that she has recognised the issue, expect a simpler, more patient game from Swiatek than we’ve seen at other European events this spring. Deep down she knows her tried-and-true patterns can be lethal against the game’s best. 

When you’ve created a blueprint for dominance at a place, why change it? 

“Working her way into the tournament and trying to find her footwork, literally and figuratively, is the way to go,” said two-time Roland-Garros champion Jim Courier, who joined Wozniacki in TNT’s conference call earlier this week. “Keep it simple. Her game’s good enough.”

Swiatek believes her best tennis will come when she stops worrying about mistakes and simply focuses on attacking her next opportunity. 

She may be outside of the top 4 for the first time in over three years, and seeded fifth in Paris with a gauntlet of a draw to deal with, but she’s still the gold standard on the Parisian clay until further notice. 

No woman has won four consecutive Roland-Garros singles titles in the Open Era. With the power of positive thinking fuelling her, Swiatek hopes to be the first to reach the promised land. 

“I want to be more positive about what I'm doing and not focus too much on the mistakes a little bit and kind of just go for it. Be more brave,” she concluded.