Zürcher Nachrichten - Swiatek 'playing better' despite end of French Open reign

EUR -
AED 4.247724
AFN 81.382259
ALL 97.942545
AMD 443.939575
ANG 2.069889
AOA 1060.608591
ARS 1367.349581
AUD 1.768944
AWG 2.084783
AZN 1.97823
BAM 1.954653
BBD 2.334431
BDT 141.397053
BGN 1.955837
BHD 0.436231
BIF 3442.580502
BMD 1.156607
BND 1.481031
BOB 8.018296
BRL 6.346644
BSD 1.156122
BTN 99.659537
BWP 15.456933
BYN 3.78368
BYR 22669.487548
BZD 2.322338
CAD 1.568549
CDF 3327.556712
CHF 0.940201
CLF 0.028179
CLP 1081.346391
CNY 8.304146
CNH 8.309454
COP 4747.719355
CRC 582.258434
CUC 1.156607
CUP 30.650072
CVE 110.201306
CZK 24.7988
DJF 205.879226
DKK 7.458736
DOP 68.359898
DZD 150.273274
EGP 57.996557
ERN 17.349098
ETB 155.258122
FJD 2.589872
FKP 0.850588
GBP 0.852425
GEL 3.151722
GGP 0.850588
GHS 11.908014
GIP 0.850588
GMD 82.685314
GNF 10017.123721
GTQ 8.879791
GYD 241.798156
HKD 9.078945
HNL 30.188291
HRK 7.537023
HTG 151.311237
HUF 402.722866
IDR 18849.678896
ILS 4.049627
IMP 0.850588
INR 99.753886
IQD 1514.611493
IRR 48704.699992
ISK 143.580963
JEP 0.850588
JMD 184.012054
JOD 0.820009
JPY 167.329158
KES 149.583773
KGS 101.144807
KHR 4630.283767
KMF 492.148277
KPW 1040.951798
KRW 1579.109081
KWD 0.354025
KYD 0.963535
KZT 599.848115
LAK 24943.367637
LBP 103591.830608
LKR 347.716022
LRD 231.234353
LSL 20.623702
LTL 3.415159
LVL 0.69962
LYD 6.27332
MAD 10.53512
MDL 19.747416
MGA 5191.954278
MKD 61.506202
MMK 2427.662513
MNT 4143.505213
MOP 9.348137
MRU 45.644224
MUR 52.521731
MVR 17.817545
MWK 2004.823923
MXN 21.895637
MYR 4.910374
MZN 73.965295
NAD 20.623702
NGN 1788.552951
NIO 42.545042
NOK 11.417591
NPR 159.45546
NZD 1.90391
OMR 0.444707
PAB 1.156122
PEN 4.165656
PGK 4.760208
PHP 65.685992
PKR 327.597724
PLN 4.276015
PYG 9235.582191
QAR 4.217126
RON 5.027795
RSD 117.213988
RUB 90.68071
RWF 1669.52062
SAR 4.339437
SBD 9.654647
SCR 16.972783
SDG 694.541519
SEK 10.946465
SGD 1.481509
SHP 0.908911
SLE 25.705549
SLL 24253.464398
SOS 660.712411
SRD 44.808109
STD 23939.419527
SVC 10.116066
SYP 15038.078425
SZL 20.618904
THB 37.60417
TJS 11.451782
TMT 4.048123
TND 3.417095
TOP 2.708891
TRY 45.554966
TTD 7.849395
TWD 34.117569
TZS 3006.230857
UAH 48.039035
UGX 4156.561664
USD 1.156607
UYU 47.502545
UZS 14700.376415
VES 118.167034
VND 30166.032627
VUV 138.693648
WST 3.182725
XAF 655.572426
XAG 0.031252
XAU 0.000342
XCD 3.125787
XDR 0.818022
XOF 655.578091
XPF 119.331742
YER 280.997676
ZAR 20.605546
ZMK 10410.848583
ZMW 28.146489
ZWL 372.426824
  • CMSC

    0.0900

    22.314

    +0.4%

  • CMSD

    0.0250

    22.285

    +0.11%

  • RBGPF

    0.0000

    69.04

    0%

  • SCS

    0.0400

    10.74

    +0.37%

  • RELX

    0.0300

    53

    +0.06%

  • RIO

    -0.1400

    59.33

    -0.24%

  • GSK

    0.1300

    41.45

    +0.31%

  • NGG

    0.2700

    71.48

    +0.38%

  • BP

    0.1750

    30.4

    +0.58%

  • BTI

    0.7150

    48.215

    +1.48%

  • BCC

    0.7900

    91.02

    +0.87%

  • JRI

    0.0200

    13.13

    +0.15%

  • VOD

    0.0100

    9.85

    +0.1%

  • BCE

    -0.0600

    22.445

    -0.27%

  • RYCEF

    0.1000

    12

    +0.83%

  • AZN

    -0.1200

    73.71

    -0.16%

Swiatek 'playing better' despite end of French Open reign
Swiatek 'playing better' despite end of French Open reign / Photo: Alain JOCARD - AFP

Swiatek 'playing better' despite end of French Open reign

Iga Swiatek said she "played better" at Roland Garros than in recent tournaments despite seeing her tilt at a fourth straight French Open title blown away in devastating fashion by Aryna Sabalenka on Thursday.

Text size:

The 24-year-old saw her winning streak in the event ended at 26 matches by Sabalenka in the semi-finals, suffering just the third defeat of her career at the clay-court Grand Slam.

Swiatek, who won a treble of the Madrid, Italian and French Opens on clay last year, has not reached a WTA final since and is set to drop to seventh in the world rankings.

But she looked more like her old self in Paris, right up until she collapsed in the deciding set against Sabalenka.

"I played some quality matches. Now it's probably not the best time to look at the wider perspective," said Swiatek.

"So probably it wasn't a bad tournament, but obviously not the result I wanted...

"I love playing here, so for sure I'm happy that I was fortunate enough to play so many great tournaments here.

"Even this one, I feel like I played better than weeks before. I'm just happy that I have this place to come back to every year and just try to push myself."

The five-time Grand Slam champion will next turn her attentions to the grass-court season and Wimbledon, where she has never got past the quarter-finals in five visits.

"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 at home (after Roland Garros)," Swiatek said.

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

- Ranking points 'don't really matter' -

Swiatek will have fewer ranking points to defend in the remainder of the season, after losing in the third round of Wimbledon and the US Open quarter-finals last year before a one-month doping ban.

"I've lost many points right now, but I know that it doesn't really matter," she insisted.

"Any of us can win these tournaments. We kind of start every tournament from the beginning.

"So I'm just going to try to do my job and focus on just getting progress and learning new stuff on grass right now."

Swiatek alarmingly won just six points in the third set as Sabalenka raced through the decider in only 22 minutes.

She had disagreed with the chair umpire over a line call late in the second set, which she won, and was frustrated he refused to take a closer look at the mark.

"I just went to check the mark, and I saw the mark was out. I wanted him to come down, but he didn't," Swiatek said.

"So I don't think that was fair, especially when he came down, like, every time Aryna asked him to.

"I don't get it, but I don't really care."

L.Zimmermann--NZN