Iga Swiatek confirmed she has been dealing with a stomach virus in recent days after retiring from her opening match at the Madrid Open on Saturday.
The world No.4 was locked in a battle with America’s Ann Li before calling it quits when trailing 6-7(4), 6-2, 0-3. During the match, Swiatek took a medical timeout and had her blood pressure taken. After deciding she couldn’t continue, the Pole was seen exiting the court in tears. It is the first time she has retired from a match since the 2023 Italian Open.
“I’ve been feeling terrible for the past two days. I think I have some kind of virus,” Swiatek told reporters in Madrid.
“Some hours I’ve been fine, but others I’ve been feeling really bad. I’ve heard there’s something in the locker room, a virus going around, that’s out there somewhere. I know I’ll be fine in a couple of days, but today I’ve felt like I had zero energy, zero stability.”
“I’ve felt really bad physically; yesterday was even worse. I thought maybe things would be better today, and maybe they were, but not enough to play that much. I knew it was going to be tough, but I still wanted to try, because I’ve been sick a couple of times in my career and was able to win most of my matches.”
The retirement occurs during what has been a challenging past few months on the Tour. Swiatek has yet to contest a final in 2026 but has reached the quarter-finals in five of her last seven tournaments played. After suffering a shock defeat in Miami, she ended her partnership with coach Wim Fissette. She is now working with Francisco Roig, who is the former mentor of Rafael Nadal.
Despite her latest setback, the former world No.1 is confident she is heading in the right direction. She was defending semi-final points in Madrid, but could compensate for this loss with a deep run in Rome, where she lost in the third round last year. Swiatek will also be defending semi-final points at the French Open.
“Before the tournament started, I felt like I was playing really well,” she said.
“I was feeling very comfortable with my game; I was making progress in my process. That was positive, but the tournament had barely begun for me, and today I couldn’t even compete. It’s disappointing. There aren’t many positives to take away, to be honest.”
Swiatek says she will speak to her team about their plans for Rome after she is fully recovered from her illness.
