In a stunning turn of events at the 2025 Italian Open, Iga Swiatek, the world No. 2 and three-time Rome champion, suffered a shocking third-round defeat to American Danielle Collins, falling 6-1, 7-5. The loss, which ended her title defense at Foro Italico, marked a rare stumble on clay for the 23-year-old Pole, who has dominated the surface with four French Open titles in the past five years. Hours after the match, Swiatek faced the press in a brief but strikingly candid session, laying bare her struggles with mindset and execution as she grapples with a title drought stretching back to her 2024 Roland Garros triumph. With the French Open looming, her introspective comments revealed a champion determined to regroup despite mounting challenges.
Swiatek’s performance against Collins was uncharacteristically shaky, particularly in the first set, where her serve faltered dramatically. Double-faulting on break points in her first two service games, she fell behind 5-0 before scraping a single game to avoid a bagel. Collins, the No. 29 seed, capitalized with fearless aggression, firing рассмотр
System: 32 winners and converting six of eight break points, while Swiatek racked up 22 unforced errors. The second set showed flashes of her brilliance, with Swiatek breaking Collins early and leveling the score at 4-4, but her focus wavered at critical moments. “I just wasn’t there, present, to fight and to compete,” she admitted in her post-match press conference, her voice tinged with frustration. “I focused on mistakes, you know, and it’s, it’s my mistake and I’m not doing things right, so the focus is on the wrong things from my side, and I’ll try to change that.”
This defeat marks Swiatek’s ninth loss of 2025, equaling her total for all of 2024, and comes on the heels of disappointing results in Stuttgart and Madrid. Her clay-court season, typically a stronghold, has been marred by inconsistency, with no finals reached ahead of her French Open title defense starting May 25. “It hasn’t been easy,” she told reporters, acknowledging the mounting pressure. “For sure, I’m doing something wrong. So I need to just regroup and change some stuff.” Swiatek’s candor extended to her mental approach, which she described as overly perfectionist. Earlier in the tournament, she noted, “This year I feel like I am struggling a bit more with my perfectionism,” a sentiment that has evidently seeped into her on-court performance, causing her to dwell on errors rather than seizing the moment.
The match against Collins, a player Swiatek had beaten seven times in eight prior encounters, exposed vulnerabilities in her game, particularly her first serve, which Collins relentlessly targeted. “I’m not able to play my game,” Swiatek said, pinpointing her inability to execute her tactical blueprint. Her coach, Wim Fissette, could be heard urging her to “play to win” during the match, a plea to shake off her hesitancy. Despite saving one match point at 6-5 in the second set, Swiatek’s backhand sailed wide on the second, sealing her fate and costing her the No. 2 ranking. She will drop to at least No. 4 when the WTA rankings update, a significant blow for a player who has been a fixture at the top.
Collins, by contrast, was jubilant, crediting her victory to lessons learned from past defeats. “I played against Iga so many times,” she said. “When you play that many close matches and also play some of your best tennis and lose, I think you learn a lot. I feel like I applied that today, to the match.” Her performance, marked by 32 winners and only 15 unforced errors, was a masterclass in aggression, earning her a fourth-round clash with Elina Svitolina. For Collins, the win was a rare triumph on clay against Swiatek, whose 21-2 record in Rome underscored her dominance before this upset.
Swiatek’s press conference, held four hours after the match—an unusually long delay—reflected her need to process the defeat. “I need to find myself and change some things,” she said, revealing discussions with her team about adjusting her mindset. Dismissing comparisons to other players who triumphed at Grand Slams despite poor lead-ins, she snapped, “I don’t care what other people had. There’s no point to compare.” Her bluntness underscored her focus on self-improvement rather than external expectations, even as she shut down questions about Roland Garros: “It doesn’t matter what things I get. Every year is different.”
As Swiatek prepares for Paris, where she boasts an unbeaten record since 2021, her Italian Open exit raises questions about her form. Yet, her history of resilience suggests she could rebound. With two weeks to recalibrate, Swiatek’s determination to “change my mindset a little bit” and heed her team’s advice may yet see her reclaim her clay-court throne. For now, the tennis world watches as one of its brightest stars navigates a rare moment of vulnerability, poised to transform setbacks into a springboard for redemption.
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