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'It's taking Iga a minute': Andy Roddick defends Swiatek’s slump amid rising pressure

Originally posted on TennisUpToDate.com | Last updated May 13, 2025 11:08 AM ET

Andy Roddick spoke about the difficult moment Iga Swiatek is going through with her current form on the WTA Tour and drew comparisons with her rival Aryna Sabalenka. The Polish player will drop out of the top 2 for the first time since March 2022 – that is, after a total of 163 weeks among the top two players in the world.

The 5-time Grand Slam champion has repeatedly faltered in the quarter-final and semi-final stages since last season. She has fallen in seven semi-finals since her last final back in the 2024 Roland Garros.

Not even the recent clay-court swing has yielded great results, and the third-round defeat at the Rome Open against Danielle Collins only deepens the difficult moment for the Polish player.

The 23-year-old must defend her title at the upcoming French Open, and risks an even greater drop in the ranking if she fails to retain the title.

While Swiatek is experiencing her most adverse moment in recent years, Aryna Sabalenka, in contrast, is in the best moment of her career. As the world No. 1 with a significant lead, and being the immense protagonist of the Tour, in addition to having won the last two consecutive WTA 1000 titles at the Miami Open and Madrid Open.

Comparisons between the two have abounded, as they have been the leaders of the WTA Tour for the past few seasons. In this sense, Andy Roddick compared both players, considering as a key element that Swiatek is several years younger than Sabalenka, and that she has had to deal with expectations more strongly despite her age.

"The fact that Iga had it figured out at 19 and Sabalenka is in her prime at 27, you know, Iga has four or four and a half years (gap)… It is it but like she will have gone through another lifetime of tennis before she's Sabalenka's age right, so it's weird she had that focus early."

"And now I think expectation is tough whereas Sabalenka had the expectations early that she didn't quite overcome, you know we saw her at 19, and we're like ‘she's going to be a world beater’ and it took her a minute, and like right now it's like opposite ends of the spectrum you know with the expectations set involved it's taking Iga a minute."

"It's easy to say now that like Sabalenka is the way to go, but that would have been an insane conversation to have four years ago, it would have been a crazy take four years ago and it's like, you know, victim of the moment a little bit," the former world No. 1 added. "It seems like she's in a constant state of stress it seems like we're in the point where it feels like it's relief when she wins and it's like that's what should happen."

"It's gotten to the point where - which is a really has to be a really hard place to be, i was never there – but if you win a tournament it's like ‘oh yeah, you were supposed to do that.’ That’s a tough one,” concluded the 2003 US Open champion.