Iga Swiatek has some evident issues with her serve, which were on show during her quarterfinal defeat at Indian Wells.
Swiatek was beaten by Elina Svitolina at Indian Wells, having not dropped a single set leading up to that match.
This has continued a mixed start to the season for Swiatek, who will now drop down to world number three following her Indian Wells exit.
Swiatek hit eight double faults and was broken five times by Svitolina, and Coco Gauff’s former coach Brad Gilbert has admitted he is stunned by what he has seen the Pole doing with her serve.
Brad Gilbert explains the mistake he has noticed Iga Swiatek making with her serve
Swiatek is one of the greatest players on the WTA Tour in the 21st century, having already won four major titles at 24 years old, but she has struggled against top 10 players recently.
The Wimbledon champion has lost her last five matches against top 10 players, and Gilbert believes there is a real issue with her serve that is affecting the rest of her game.
Where do you think she will be ranked?
“Well first of all credit to Svitolina, at 31 years old maybe playing some of the best ball in her career,” Gilbert began on The Big T Podcast. “Like [Daniil] Medvedev, she’s won the most matches on the women’s tour.
“I don’t know what Iga has done on the serve! First it was a full motion, then the last couple of years it has been an abbreviated motion, now it’s just this straight up and it’s like she’s tinkered with it, but she’s not using her legs the way she did and wasn’t really hitting it very big, and a lot of double faults today. So that was the thing that was the most surprising.”
Mark Petchey then asked Gilbert, “Does that affect the rest of her game?”
Gilbert responded, “Absolutely! I feel like with a lot of the ladies, the forehand is the tell shot, usually when the forehand goes it can bring down, also the serve.
“I’ve never seen her hitting first serves 85…90,95mph, and they were almost like no purpose bunny kicks, it kind of surprised me. She’s had a poor record now the last couple of years vs top 10, and this is lady that in ‘22,’23, especially in ‘23 she dominated top 10.”
Brad Gilbert suggests if Iga Swiatek has got worse as a tennis player
Swiatek was the best player on the WTA Tour for most of 2022, 2023 and 2024, having been world number one for a combined 125 weeks.
With Aryna Sabalenka holding that position for the entirety of 2025, Swiatek stated her goal was to return to world number one in 2026.
Aryna Sabalenka is now the — best women’s player of all time
Where are you ranking her?
When asked if Swiatek was a better player a couple of years ago to what she is now, Gilbert claimed that was the case, but backed her to return to form in the future.
“She was definitely a better player in ‘23 and ‘24, but she’s still young, she’s got lots of time to turn things around,” said Gilbert.
“She turned it around very quickly at Wimbledon last year. So people are asking me, I wouldn’t sell that stock, you know maybe I wouldn’t buy more of it, but I would hold the stock for the moment.”
Swiatek will hope to rediscover this sort of form at the Miami Open next week, where she is a former champion.
The main draw of the Miami Open gets underway on Tuesday, March 17, but Swiatek will not play her first match until at least Thursday as a seeded player.
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