Iga Swiatek says she will rest for a couple of days before resuming preparations for the defence of her French Open title after medical evaluation of the thigh injury she sustained in Rome suggested it “shouldn’t be anything serious”.
Swiatek pulled up sharply late in the second set of an absorbing quarter-final tussle with Elena Rybakina on Wednesday night after lunging to retrieve a forehand. Visibly distressed, she stood clutching the area just above her right knee and, having left the court for a medical timeout, she returned with strapping on her upper right thigh before retiring four games into the decider with the score level at 6-2, 6-7 (3-7), 2-2.
The abrupt conclusion to the contest brought Swiatek’s two-year reign as champion at the Foro Italico to an end and immediately raised fears about her title defence at Roland Garros, which begins in 10 days’ time. But in a recorded statement, the Polish world No 1 explained that her decision to stop was largely precautionary.
“During the second set, at the end in the tiebreaker, I felt pain in my right thigh,” said Swiatek. “It was pretty sudden.
“At the beginning, I didn’t really know if it was serious or not. We did an examination with the physio afterwards. It shouldn’t be anything serious, so I’m pretty positive that I’ll be back soon.
“For sure, I feel tired. I think it was the right decision to stop playing because I felt pain when I was stretching, when I did, like, harder movements.
“For me, the most important thing is to play it safe and not exploit my body so much in such difficult conditions, after having to play [a] few matches in [the] night session and after midnight.”
It is not the first time Swiatek has raised concern about late finishes in recent weeks. During the trophy ceremony at this month’s Madrid Open, where she was beaten in the final by Aryna Sabalenka, the 21-year-old made an oblique allusion to her after-hours victory over Ekaterina Alexandrova earlier in the tournament.
“It’s a pleasure to play here in front of you guys,” Swiatek told the crowd. “It’s not fun to play at 1am, though, so I’m happy anyway that I was able to get past this experience and survive and be in the final.”
In fairness, Swiatek has a point. The sport’s growing problem with late matches was thrown into stark relief at this year’s Australian Open when Andy Murray’s second-round victory over Thanasi Kokkinakis ended at 4.05am. Murray branded the situation “a farce” and the issue became a major talking point among players, with Jessica Pegula, the world No 3, suggesting it was “ridiculous to be asking people to be there at that time”.
There are also legitimate questions to be answered about the scheduling of women’s matches in particular. The marquee encounter between Swiatek and Rybakina, current holders of three of the four grand slam titles but scheduled as the last match of the day, was a case in point.
While organisers can hardly be blamed for the unseasonably bad weather in Rome this week, a rain delay during Holger Rune’s win over Novak Djokovic earlier in the afternoon pushed the schedule back by an hour. By the time Casper Ruud had seen off Francisco Cerundolo in a shade over two hours in the second of the day’s men’s quarter-finals, it was well past 10pm local time. In cold, wet conditions, and after a day of waiting around, the potential for injuries was obvious. With the crowd rapidly thinning, it is hard to imagine that there would have been too many complaints had the match been held over to the following day.
As it was, the hardy souls who remained were treated to a compelling and intense exhibition of power tennis from both women. After an early break in play when Swiatek’s mobile phone went off, prompting a mad scramble to the chair and some frantic rummaging around in her racket bag, the top seed established a commanding lead.
Brushing aside thoughts of her straight-set losses to Rybakina at the Australian Open and in Indian Wells, Swiatek dominated the baseline exchanges and exploited a below-par serving performance from the Kazakh to move ahead by a set and a break. But a few loose moments from the world No 1 late in the second set were all that Rybakina needed to re-establish a foothold in the contest, and after breaking back the 23-year-old went from strength to strength.
“I wouldn’t say that anything changed at the end of the second set,” said Swiatek, who began her clay-court campaign with a successful title defence in Stuttgart.
“I lost my serve, I wasn’t able to hold it to win the set. But also I served with old balls. I know what mistakes I did.
“I felt little bit more pressure then, but I was able to recover quickly. I had many chances on Elena’s serve later, but she really fought back with great first serves.
“To be ready for Roland Garros I need to recover right now. I’m going to take a couple of days off. With my quarter-final loss, I have also time to practice right before the tournament.
“I’m happy right now to have a few days off because, since Stuttgart, I wasn’t really able to recover with that tight schedule that we have on WTA.”