A first since 2021
Iga Swiatek has not missed the WTA Finals since making her debut in 2021. Back then, she finished ninth in the world. Five years on, she is in exactly the same spot, and the script is threatening to repeat itself. In the Race standings, which decide who qualifies, the Pole is only 10th, almost 700 points behind eighth-placed Linda Noskova.
Her coach is not panicking. “It is still a long way off, but yes, that is our goal. If we do not make it, it will not be the end of the world,” Francisco Roig told Radio Zet. “We will just have a little more time to prepare next season properly.”
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The door is still open
Swiatek will play Beijing, then Wuhan. Two tournaments to close the gap, and Roig is blunt about it: the maths depends as much on everyone else as it does on her. “We have talked about it with Iga. If we do well in these two tournaments, we can still qualify depending on our rivals’ results. That is why we want to go for the best possible results without thinking about the Finals.”
The year has taken its toll. The six-time Grand Slam winner has not gone beyond the last 16 in the three majors she has played since Roig arrived in April. At the US Open, she led Zheng Qinwen 5-0 in the first set. She went out in the fourth round.
Fewer errors, more breathing room
The former Rafael Nadal coach is not all doom and gloom. His verdict fits in one line. “The first rule in tennis is not to make errors. When Iga stopped going forward, she often lost. It was not the opponent beating her. It was us losing.”
Roig points to the first serve and too much intent. “Iga made too many errors on her first ball. She was forcing it when she did not need to. But Iga is Iga, she has to try. Sometimes she wants too much.”
The title she won in Toronto in August is the reference point. “She improved massively in that area, and she struck the ball with better quality. Her forehand had a better shape, she opened up better angles on the backhand. That allowed her to extend the rallies and then find easier balls to attack, instead of going after them from tough positions.” The challenge now is turning one good week in Canada into a trend.
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