John McEnroe: Iga Swiatek seems unsure for some reason

John McEnroe feels Iga Swiatek “seems unsure for some reason” and he suspects the sudden change caused by Ashleigh Barty’s shock retirement might have something to do with that. After Barty retired, Swiatek won two Grand Slams and reached the world No 1 position for the first time in her career.

Swiatek, who has since Barty’s retirement established herself as the best player on the WTA Tour, suffered a surprise Australian Open round-of-16 defeat to Elena Rybakina. After losing to Rybakina, Swiatek admitted that she felt the pressure and “that I don’t want to lose instead of I want to win.”

It did seem like she wasn’t settled as emotionally and has spoken about the pressure of being No 1. I covered Wimbledon last year and Rybakina is the kind of player who can take the racket out of your hand and she is playing at the level she was when she won Wimbledon.

I don’t think the other players have worked out how to beat her. She covers a tennis court better than anyone I’ve seen. To me, with Swiatek, it is more mental than physical at this point. It’s about what is going on in her head.

She seems unsure for some reason. Any time you win a couple of majors and become No 1 unexpectedly because a player retires, that is a massive change. I hope she can take a step back, appreciate what she has done and want to get back on the court and compete again,” McEnroe said, as quoted on Tennis365.

Swiatek was considered the No 1 Australian Open favorite on the women’s side. But the Pole didn’t deliver at Melbourne Park and missed out on a chance to land her first Australian Open title. It will be interesting to see if Swiatek can defend her French Open title in a few months time.