"Doesn't really matter": Iga Swiatek casts aside what rankings math says about clay season

On Thursday, Iga Swiatek saw her bid to complete a remarkable four-peat at Roland Garros ended by rival Aryna Sabalenka.

After Swiatek leveled with the world No, 1, Sabalenka dropped just six points to run away with their semifinal under a closed Court Philippe Chatrier, 7-6 (1), 4-6, 6-0. The victory sent Sabalenka through to her first final at a non-hard court major and snapped the Pole’s 26-match win streak at the event.

“She came on pretty strongly in third set and, like, just went for it. And then the set went pretty quickly,” Swiatek told press.

The five-time major winner arrived at the tournament having dropped outside of the Top 2 for the first time in more than three years following her Rome exit to Danielle Collins. In falling to Sabaelnka, Swiatek no longer has any champion points to defend with 2024 Roland Garros marking her most recent title run—and appearance in a final.

The Warsaw native combined to capture eight crowns across her three European clay-court swings prior to 2025, highlighted by last year’s Madrid, Rome and French Open sweep.

“Obviously looking at the math, I lost many points right now, but I know that it doesn't really matter. Like, any of us can win these tournaments,” she expressed.

“We kind of start every tournament from the beginning. So I'm just going to try to do my job and focus on, like, just getting progress and learning new stuff on grass right now.”

Obviously looking at the math, I lost many points right now, but I know that it doesn't really matter. Like, any of us can win these tournaments.

The winner of 22 tour-level trophies from 26 finals, Swiatek will be searching for her first triumph on grass. Projected to exit the Top 5 next week, Swiatek expects to jump right back to work in preparing for her most challenging surface switch.

“For sure, I'm going to have few days off, but the coaches will plan that. Hopefully we're going to have some decent kind of little pre-season on grass, because it's always been pretty hard to have that, especially when I want to be a little bit home,” Swiatek said.

“But I don't feel like I need to be home right now, so maybe I'll go somewhere in Europe, practice.”