[AceOhara]

Rybakina and Sabalenka have both levelled up and serve much better than her and hit bigger than her.
Swiatek away from clay was never meant to be a dominant player. Barty left and she was constantly getting Pegula, Gauff, Jabeur and others

 

[Thirdserve]

I think we can sound the red alarm. Being routined like this by Rybakina is very concerning

What's wrong with 1GA for the moment ?

We can't say that 2022 1GA was a fluke and she avoided hard match-ups, she deserved of all of her titles and her play was often really stellar, but do you think she is finally figured out ? That Rybakina, Krejcikova are exposing the weaknesses than the likes of Gauff, Pegula, Sabalenka and others didn't do or 1GA is just playing worse ? Last year, 1GA still lost to Ostapenko and Barty at the beginning (and didn't face them for the rest of 2022), and Rybakina and Krejcikova are adopting their respective blue-print (Rybakina is a more controlled version of Ostapenko and with a better serve, Krejcikova is a crafty player like Barty with a better BH)

It's maybe both of them. So far, Rybakina and Krejcikova are tougher players this year (they are GS champions after all, unlike Gauff and Jabeur) than all those 1GA defeated last year including Osaka, but 1GA is clearly not playing her usual level. She can't step up for the top players anymore and the most concerning is she is being routined easily, getting worse and worse each time (6-4, 6-4 at the AO, then 6-4,6-2 at Dubai, then 6-2,6-2 here)

Forget about clay, unless she has a weak draw where she draws the likes of Kasatkina, Pegula and Gauff, 1GA won't win anything big even on the red dirt. The kick serve or the slow surface won't help her if she can't trade a rally anymore against big hitters or if she can't deal with variety.I have never seen her play like this as bad since forever.

After reading this, I wish there was an actual word for "???????????????????????????????????????????????"

 

[blazkoo2]

It's not like having a period is something only this generation of players have had to face. To say it is chiefly responsible for WTA's unpredictability is silly.

I'm not saying this only in regards to current era, but to all of WTA history.

 

[slickone4567]

Really hard to see her being fave for the hard court slams with Saba and Ryba monstrous serve being an massive advantage, french open is best chance of a slam with her being a non factor at Wimbledon.

 

[larryd]

Last year Swiatek filled the void left by Barty's retirement. She's just a transitional number one, just like Hingis was. Hingis took advantage of the gap between the Graf-Seles era and the Williams' sisters era, she looked untouchable in 1997. Then the competition became stronger, more powerful and physically stronger players started to emerge and even if she was still number one between 1998 and 2000 because she was still very consistent, she was no longer dominant and often lost to the big hitters. With the coming of age of the Williams' sisters and the growth of Davenport and Capriati, her ranking finally dropped to number five, that's when she decided to take a long break from the game.
The same thing is happening to Swiatek. Untouchable for one season during a transitional period, then suffering from the emergence and growth of big hitters that can overwhelm her.
The problem for Swiatek is that players like Rybakina and Sabalenka can take women's tennis to the next level in terms of power and athleticism, Swiatek can't.

 

[GT350]

It has been going on for a while. Since her 37 match winning streak, Iga « only » won 3 events out of 13 played, losing against 7 different opponents.

 

[MarkWard82]

Obviously on clay Iga is a different class and the mix will be a bit different there, with Sakkari, maybe Sloane.

Sloane!?!?

 

[VeniVidiVici]

Last year Swiatek filled the void left by Barty's retirement. She's just a transitional number one, just like Hingis was. Hingis took advantage of the gap between the Graf-Seles era and the Williams' sisters era, she looked untouchable in 1997. Then the competition became stronger, more powerful and physically stronger players started to emerge and even if she was still number one between 1998 and 2000 because she was still very consistent, she was no longer dominant and often lost to the big hitters. With the coming of age of the Williams' sisters and the growth of Davenport and Capriati, her ranking finally dropped to number five, that's when she decided to take a long break from the game.
The same thing is happening to Swiatek. Untouchable for one season during a transitional period, then suffering from the emergence and growth of big hitters that can overwhelm her.
The problem for Swiatek is that players like Rybakina and Sabalenka can take women's tennis to the next level in terms of power and athleticism, Swiatek can't.

The comparison to Hingis is solid although unlike Hingis Iga has a more imposing game so she's not gonna get swept away . But Iga definitely took advantage of a void

 

[EveLangElCoup]

Last year Swiatek filled the void left by Barty's retirement. She's just a transitional number one, just like Hingis was. Hingis took advantage of the gap between the Graf-Seles era and the Williams' sisters era, she looked untouchable in 1997. Then the competition became stronger, more powerful and physically stronger players started to emerge and even if she was still number one between 1998 and 2000 because she was still very consistent, she was no longer dominant and often lost to the big hitters. With the coming of age of the Williams' sisters and the growth of Davenport and Capriati, her ranking finally dropped to number five, that's when she decided to take a long break from the game.
The same thing is happening to Swiatek. Untouchable for one season during a transitional period, then suffering from the emergence and growth of big hitters that can overwhelm her.
The problem for Swiatek is that players like Rybakina and Sabalenka can take women's tennis to the next level in terms of power and athleticism, Swiatek can't.

Rybakina, athleticism?

 

[MarkWard82]

It has been going on for a while. Since her 37 match winning streak, Iga « only » won 3 events out of 13 played, losing against 7 different opponents.

Isn't that still more than ANY other player on tour!?

 

[kuba]

It has been going on for a while. Since her 37 match winning streak, Iga « only » won 3 events out of 13 played, losing against 7 different opponents.

I don't know maybe because her best surface is clay, and clay season ended like 9 month ago?

 

[Gentleman]

I don’t think so.

Rybakina is her H2H problem but she is still routining most of the tour. It will be fun to follow whether and when Swiatek finds a solution for Rybakina. Its really fun actually and good for the tour.

 

[Malacogary]

Iga is still very young, is obviously a keen student of the game and is extremely talented. She has plenty of time to add dimensions to her game and crucially has the work ethic required to do that very successfully.

More craft and variety on serve, a flat forehand on occasion and a more reliable DTL BH.

More than all this she needs to learn to remain calm in the face of scoreboard pressure. She signalled distress very quickly in this match, making things far easier for Rybakina than should really have been the case.

 

[Tati’s Flatty]

I’ve noticed with Swiatek this year, and maybe it’s just me, that she’s playing very fast and reflexive with less variety. It’s very much one-way traffic from her side and she wins before the opponent can blink, or it doesn’t work and she gets routined. She’s not changing things up like before. Maybe she’s trying to do something we don’t know about or she’s gotten lazy. She’ll be fine though, it’s a good indicator of how good you are when everyone predicts your downfall whenever you lose one match.

 

[FitzWilton]

There's always been something mentally brittle about her, I mean bursting into tears after defeat by JPEG in the Irrelevant Cup was over the top completely. Even looking disconsolately at her box after missing a shot at 6-0 5-0 is a bit freaky. There's a lot going on between those ears and I doubt if the fangirls will be of much use.

 

[larryd]

Rybakina, athleticism?

Have you seen her body and physique?! Athleticism not necessarily means speed.

 

[King_Stacio]

There's always been something mentally brittle about her, I mean bursting into tears after defeat by JPEG in the Irrelevant Cup was over the top completely. Even looking disconsolately at her box after missing a shot at 6-0 5-0 is a bit freaky. There's a lot going on between those ears and I doubt if the fangirls will be of much use.

The weight of expectation and having a target on your back, perhaps? Swiatek and her fans expect that she’ll win every single match she plays all the time and it’s gotten to her head. Those losses start to become humbling and creates doubt, especially when they’re coming at the hands of players she subconsciously feel are better than her when in form. It happened to Andreescu and Osaka. Swiatek struggles with adversity, which explains the sports psychologist being a staple point in her entourage even more.

 

[nanorobot]

There's always been something mentally brittle about her, I mean bursting into tears after defeat by JPEG in the Irrelevant Cup was over the top completely. Even looking disconsolately at her box after missing a shot at 6-0 5-0 is a bit freaky. There's a lot going on between those ears and I doubt if the fangirls will be of much use.

The United Cup was really important to her because she feels it is her duty to play for her country. It will be interesting to see what will happen if she does not win a medal at the 2024 Olympics.

 

[goldenlox]

I would say to wait a little before saying Swiatek filled a gap. She won 37 in a row and 3 majors at age 21
If she doesnt get #4 by 2025 French Open, then maybe. But the idea that you have REPEAT at IW to prove yourself, that is ridiculous

 

[Sheriff]

Last year Swiatek filled the void left by Barty's retirement. She's just a transitional number one, just like Hingis was. Hingis took advantage of the gap between the Graf-Seles era and the Williams' sisters era, she looked untouchable in 1997. Then the competition became stronger, more powerful and physically stronger players started to emerge and even if she was still number one between 1998 and 2000 because she was still very consistent, she was no longer dominant and often lost to the big hitters. With the coming of age of the Williams' sisters and the growth of Davenport and Capriati, her ranking finally dropped to number five, that's when she decided to take a long break from the game.
The same thing is happening to Swiatek. Untouchable for one season during a transitional period, then suffering from the emergence and growth of big hitters that can overwhelm her.
The problem for Swiatek is that players like Rybakina and Sabalenka can take women's tennis to the next level in terms of power and athleticism, Swiatek can't.

The problem with this analysis is Iga is not Hingis and has proven she can annihilate any kind of game when in full flow, and Sabalenka and Rybakina are not analogous to the Williams. Sabalenka and Rybakina are older than Iga who is still just 21. Claiming they're taking the game to the next level as if Iga is some 35-year-old heading for retirement is a stretch. Iga was destroying Sabalenka just last year - going 4-1 against her in 2022. Not even that she out-gritted an error-ridden Sabalenka or anything like that - she fucking destroyed every element of her game and overpowered her in Doha and the clay season. And your claims didn't even factor her clay dominance. Rybakina and Sabalenka can't take the game to the next level of "power and athleticism" for the simple reason Iga is the best athlete on tour and losing a couple of matches to her rivals wouldn't change that.