Just days after a tearful exit from the Madrid Open, Iga Swiatek, the world’s No. 2 women’s tennis player, has rediscovered her spark in Rome. The 23-year-old Polish star, known for her ironclad resolve on clay, was spotted sightseeing in the Eternal City with close friend and fellow WTA player Maja Chwalinska, radiating happiness ahead of the 2025 Italian Open. The fun-filled outing, captured in cheerful Instagram posts, marks a stark contrast to the emotional turmoil Swiatek endured in Madrid, where a crushing 6-1, 6-1 semifinal loss to Coco Gauff left her visibly broken. As she prepares to defend her Rome title, Swiatek’s resilience and ability to find joy off the court signal her readiness to reclaim her clay-court dominance.
The Madrid Open was a grueling chapter for Swiatek, whose 2025 season has been solid but title-less since her fourth French Open triumph in June 2024. Facing Gauff, a player she had beaten 11 times in 14 encounters, Swiatek struggled from the outset. Down 6-1, 3-0 in the second set, she draped a towel over her head during a changeover, wiping away tears as the weight of the match overwhelmed her. “I couldn’t really get my level up. Coco played good, but I think it’s on me that I didn’t move well,” she said post-match, her voice heavy with self-criticism. “I wasn’t ready to play back the shots with heaviness, and with that kind of game, it was pretty bad.” The defeat, her worst on clay since a 2019 French Open loss to Simona Halep, exposed vulnerabilities in her movement and confidence, compounded by personal challenges, including her grandfather’s recent passing and a doping suspension in 2024 that sidelined her for a month.
Swiatek’s Madrid campaign wasn’t without highlights. She staged a remarkable comeback against Australian Open champion Madison Keys in the quarterfinals, recovering from a 6-0 first-set drubbing to win 0-6, 6-3, 6-2. “At least it’s fast!” she joked about the bagel, a rare light moment in a tournament marked by inconsistency. Against Gauff, however, her game unraveled, with only seven winners to 21 unforced errors, and she admitted to lacking a “plan B.” “I feel like I wasn’t even in the right place with my feet before the shots,” she said, pinpointing her sluggish footwork as a critical flaw. The loss extended her streak of not reaching a WTA final since Roland Garros, a drought that has seen her fall nearly 4,400 points behind No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka.
Yet, in Rome, Swiatek’s spirit appears renewed. Her Instagram posts, captioned with warmth and humor, show her and Chwalinska, both 23, exploring the city’s historic sites. The pair, who won the Junior Fed Cup and Junior European Championships together in 2016, share a bond forged through years of friendship and shared Polish heritage. Swiatek’s relaxed demeanor suggests she’s shedding the emotional weight of Madrid, where a power outage across Europe added to the tournament’s chaos, forcing her to navigate darkened streets and disrupted schedules. “I’ve been forcing myself to go lower, to be more precise with my feet, because it’s not going by itself,” she reflected in Madrid, a mindset she’s likely recalibrating in Rome’s familiar clay courts.
The Italian Open, where Swiatek is a three-time champion (2021, 2022, 2024), is a pivotal stop before her quest for a fifth French Open title. Last year, she defeated Gauff 6-4, 6-3 in the Rome semifinals en route to the title, part of a historic Madrid-Rome-French Open treble, a feat only Serena Williams achieved in 2013. With Gauff now at No. 3 and closing the rankings gap, Rome is a chance for Swiatek to reassert her clay-court supremacy. Casper Ruud, the men’s Madrid Open champion, offered words of encouragement after her Madrid loss, writing on social media, “Hey @iga_swiatek keep your head up🙏🙏 Like millions of other people I love watching you play. Not your day today, but you’ll be back stronger than ever!!” That prophecy may well come true in Rome, where Swiatek’s joyful outing hints at a player ready to turn the page.
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