'That’s not easy to do': Tim Henman highlights what Emma Raducanu must do to beat Iga Swiatek at French Open

Britain’s former number one Tim Henman has highlighted what Emma Raducanu must do to get the better of Poland’s Iga Swiatek at the French Open. The two are set to face off in the round of 64 of the second Grand Slam of the year on Wednesday.

Raducanu cemented her spot in the second round after beating China’s Wang Xinyu with a score of 7-5, 4-6, 6-3. On the other hand, the defending champion got the better of Slovakia’s Rebecca Sramkova in the round of 128 in straight sets with a score of 6-3, 6-3. It will be the fifth meeting between the two players in professional tennis. In the previous four meetings, Swiatek had a clear edge as she won on all four occasions.

Britain’s former number one Henman has spoken to TNT Sports, where he highlighted that Raducanu must use an ‘aggressive’ approach if she wants to get the better of the four-time French Open winner in the second round. The 50-year-old also stated that it is important for the 2021 US Open winner to rest properly after a tough outing in the first match of the competition against China’s Wang. Henman was also of the opinion that playing against a player of Swiatek’s calibre would ease some pressure off Raducanu.

"Against Swiatek, there is less pressure on her and hopefully she can play with that freedom,” said Henman. “To come through a match like that, the recovery and rest is going to be important. Tomorrow she can make sure that she does all the right things with the recovery work, and perhaps some light practice because, as she said, she played a lot of tennis and her game is in good shape. It’s important she goes in with a full tank of energy if she’s going to cause an upset against Swiatek. She's got to be very aggressive. That’s not easy to do on a clay court when it's slow and heavy, and a little bit cold. But she's just building confidence because she's coming into the biggest and best events on clay, which is not her natural surface, and she's got the win. And now again, she gets the opportunity to see where her game's at against one of the best clay-court players in the world."