“The most important thing is that I’m enjoying playing”: Iga Swiatek searches for balance on clay

For a set and a half on Friday, it felt like old times for Iga Swiatek in Rome. The once and possibly future Queen of Clay broke Caty McNally early, and did what she used to do: Ran away with the first set 6-1, and built a 3-1 lead in the second. This was the Swiatek who once stormed past opponents with fast-walking intensity and a barrage of dive-bombing winners. This was the Swiatek who had a 21-3 record at this event, with three titles.

Then, suddenly, it felt like new times for Iga again. Instead of diving into the corners, her ground strokes took off for parts unknown. She earned break points and squandered them. She double faulted at a crucial moment. She gave away the break, and the second set.

In the third, the Swiatek see-saw continued. Again she went up 3-1, and again she let McNally level the score. Finally, she rediscovered her early consistency, long enough to put away her pesky opponent.

“I’m happy at the end of the match I was solid and I used the right balls to attack, but was also patient enough to stay in the rally,” Swiatek said after her 6-1, 6-7 (5), 6-3 second-round win.

Read More: Iga Swiatek puts "sh--ty" Madrid experience behind her, praises Francisco Roig's practices

In Iga’s defense, McNally has traditionally played her well. The American beat her in the Roland Garros girls’ event years ago, and was the only player to take a set from her last year at Wimbledon. McNally obviously has confidence she can hang with Swiatek, and you could see it in the way she attacked and defended today.

That said, this was another example of the unsteadiness of Swiatek’s game as she tries to reclaim her titles in Rome and at Roland Garros. From 2022 to 2024, this surface brought out her best, to the point where she began to draw comparisons to her idol Rafael Nadal. In 2025, though, she surrendered her clay crowns in Madrid, Rome, and Paris, as well as her No. 1 ranking.

That left her with nothing left to defend, and nothing left to lose, to start the grass season—never a bad place for a good tennis player to be. Swiatek hadn’t had much success on grass, so she focused on improving her game, rather than winning titles. Before she knew it, or even fully believed it, she was holding the Wimbledon winner’s plate.

Which leads to a new question for Iga this spring: Can she bring her 2025 attitude about grass to her 2026 matches on clay? Can she get herself to feel less pressure on a surface where she was once expected to win every time she played?

On court, the verdict is still out. Swiatek lost to Mirra Andreeva in Stuttgart, was ill in Madrid, and was topsy-turvy against McNally.

Off court, though, she may have hired the right person to help her with her particular problem. Francisco Roig, her new coach, was also Nadal’s coach.

I’ve always thought that Nadal’s long-running clay dominance was, in at least one way, underrated. You might think that, once he had established himself as the best-ever on dirt, it would be easier to keep winning win on it. And it’s true, Rafa’s opponents couldn’t have been all that confident when they stepped onto a clay court with him. But as Swiatek has found out, winning matches you’re expected to win, over and over and over, year after year after year, can be the toughest task of all. Every time Nadal played on clay, he knew that, if he lost, it would be headline news. Yet he never let that pressure get to him.

While Swiatek’s game can be hit and miss these days, she sounds happy, and, possibly, pressure-free.

“I love being here,” she says of Rome. “These are honestly the most exciting tournaments for me, also in terms of spending time off the court. I’m just enjoying life.”

As for Roig, she says:

“I think we have the same vision of how I should play. He’s helping me to achieve that.”

“I’ve been trying some different options in practices, which is great, because I wasn’t exactly comfortable with how I played a couple months back. This feels more natural and more solid and I would say kind of disciplined.”

“Honestly the most important thing for me is that I’m enjoying playing. I enjoy practicing. Every practice for me makes sense. It feels like a process and it feels like every practice I learn something new.”

We’ll see what happens during her matches, but that sounds like someone who is focused on improving, rather than worrying about defending titles. It was her approach on grass last year, and we saw where it took her.