Iga Swiatek believes there was a silver lining to her recent injury woes ahead of her title defence at the French Open.
The world No.1 suffered a stern scare at the Italian Open earlier this month where she was forced to retire from her quarter-final match against Elena Rybakina due to a thigh injury. An unwelcome first for the Pole who had never retired from a WTA Tour match until then. Nine days have now passed and Swiatek is remaining upbeat about her current form.
“Luckily nothing serious happened, so I had a couple of days off,” she said during media day at the French Open. “I’m still recovering from the thigh injury, but I’ll be good for my first round. That’s the most important thing for me.”
Ironically the setback helped the three-time Grand Slam champion ‘reset’ after what has been a busy past few weeks. This year was the first time that both Rome and Madrid were expanded into two-week tournaments. Something that has been criticized by some players who argue the new format gives them less time to switch off from competition. On the other hand, others say the expanded draws provide more opportunities to those lower down in the world rankings.
From Swiatek’s perspective, the new format reduces the time to ‘properly rest’ before adding that players need to learn to adjust to the change.
“On one hand, for sure, it’s not easy getting injured and having it in the back of your mind that you have a tournament next week,” she reflected on the Schedule. “But on the other hand I’m pretty happy that I have these extra few more days off because for sure I needed time to reset.
“Since the beginning of Stuttgart I was just doing everything to play matches the best way, and that was the only thing I focused on. Having this time to reset and think about other stuff and just calm down for a couple of days was really helpful. And to also analyze what happened during the whole clay season. It’s a nice way to kind of going to the last tournament of the clay season with all the knowledge that I gained.
“I’m trying to take positives from that situation. So I feel like I have more time for sure than last year after Rome. I can more calmly prepare to Roland Garros.”
The 21-year-old faces the prospect of losing her No.1 position in Paris if she fails to reach the semi-final stage. A scenario she was unaware of until a journalist pointed it out in her press conference. She has been at the top of the WTA ranking since April last year.
Jabeur raring to go
Another player to have had her share of physical setbacks is Tunisia’s Ons Jabeur who reached the final of two out of four Grand Slam events last season. For her, the problem has been a calf injury which ruled her out of the Madrid Open. Then in Rome, she only managed to win five games during her loss to Paula Badosa.
“Injury-wise I’m feeling much better, and I had a very nice week of training here at the French Open. I’m going to do my best and hopefully do better than last year,” said Jabeur who lost in the first round 12 months ago.
“I was training with a lot of players, moving normally. But you always have it in your mind what if something could happen? But I try not to focus on that. The way I move on the court I feel like is much better.”
Jabeur has already experienced success on the clay this year by winning her fourth WTA trophy in Charleston. She was also a semi-finalist in Stuttgart where she sustained her injury.
Awaiting Jabeur in the first round of the French Open this year will be Italy’s Lucia Bronzetti who has reached the final of the Rabat Open in Morocco this week. Bronzetti has only won one Grand Slam main draw match so far in her career.
“The first match will be hard because she’s actually on the rise right now. There is no easy first round. I will do my best,” said Jabeur.
‘The most important thing for me is to be in good health because it has been hard lately with all these injuries that I have sustained.’
“I will try to play with the same mindset as for Charleston because I think it was the best tournament that I played this season. I will try to keep up and enjoy playing on court.”
