Will Iga Świątek make a sensational decision? This is the path chosen by Novak Djokovic

The tennis world is wondering what happened to Iga Świątek on the clay courts. The famous clay was the natural environment for the Polish champion, who won on this surface with almost every opponent. The situation changed dramatically in the 2025 season.

Iga Świątek may make a surprising decision. The expert speaks out

In recent tournaments, the Polish player reached the semi-finals in Madrid, where she clearly lost to Coco Gauff, and was eliminated in the third round in Rome, proving to be weaker than Danielle Collins. This second defeat is especially painful, because the Polish tennis player wanted to rebuild her self-confidence in Italy as the defending champion.

However, the opposite happened. The Polish player lost early on, which will cause her to fall off the podium in the latest WTA ranking, dropping to fourth place .

Marion Bartoli, the 2013 Wimbledon champion, hints at the path Świątek could take next. The Pole is in a difficult position, on the home stretch before RG 2025.

- It will be a difficult situation. Will Świątek ask for a wild card in one of the events preceding Roland Garros? That's a big question mark. For example, Novak Djokovic asked for a "wild card" in Geneva. I think Iga lacks match play. I have the impression that she will probably sit down with her team and wonder whether they will choose 10 days of training in Paris on the courts of Roland Garros, where she will have a title to defend, or will she actually go to the tournament? I think she will choose the latter option - the Frenchwoman assessed in "The Tennis Gazette".

Where could Świątek play? If not training on the courts in the French capital, the Pole could try her hand at, for example, the WTA 500 in Strasbourg or the WTA 250 in Rabat. Both tournaments end on May 24. The tournament competition at RG 2025 starts a day later, but it is obvious that the Pole will not start playing on May 25.

WTA 1000 Rome: Magda Linette and Magdalena Fręch eliminated

Sunday (i.e. May 11) was not a successful day for the Polish singles players who remained in the tournament in the capital of Italy. Both Polish players had to leave the Apennine Peninsula. It must be said, however, that neither Magda Linette nor Magdalena Fręch were very lucky in the tournament bracket draw.

The more experienced player from Poznań had to face Coco Gauff. Although Linette performed better than Świątek during the recent WTA 1000 semi-final in Madrid, she ultimately shared the fate of the WTA ranking vice-leader. Linette lost to the American in two sets 5:7, 3:6. Although she lost, it was quite a successful performance against the tennis player who will soon jump over Świątek in the ranking, becoming the new number 2 in the world.

Fręch, on the other hand, fared worse. In the late afternoon, also in two sets, the player from Łódź turned out to be weaker than the Olympic champion from the games in Paris (2024). Qinwen Zheng won 6:3, 6:2. The Pole could not enter Sunday's match of the third round for a long time. Fręch started with a disastrous 0:5 in the first set, to get to within 3:5 of the Chinese player. However, the player from Łódź started the chase too late and eventually lost the opening set. In the second it was 2:2, a lot of fight, but from this state Fręch lost four consecutive games to the eighth racket of the WTA ranking. Thus, saying goodbye to the tournament in Rome.

On Monday (i.e. May 12), Hubert Hurkacz will play his match. The Pole's opponent will be the American Marcos Giron. Looking at the ranking, the favorite is the Wrocław player . However, Giron has already dismissed his compatriot, the much higher-rated Taylor Fritz. This shows that "Hubi" must be careful with this opponent. The Giron-Hurkacz match will start at around 12:30, broadcast on Polsat Sport and online on Polsat Box Go.

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