Iga Swiatek continues her search for a maiden title of 2026 at the Italian Open, where she is the fourth seed.
Swiatek enters the WTA 1000 tournament in Rome with a 14-8 record for the season, most recently falling in the Madrid Open third round.
She did, however, retire during her meeting with Ann Li because of illness, which the Pole will be hoping has disappeared for her next event.
But there are bigger worries for the world number three as the French Open nears, according to Rennae Stubbs.
Where do you think she will be ranked?
Rennae Stubbs says Iga Swiatek has ‘questions to answer’ before Roland Garros
Sharing her take on The Rennae Stubbs Tennis Podcast, the former doubles world number one said: “I mean listen, Iga has got some questions to answer. That’s for sure. She loves Rome.
“She has won a final there against a very good player by the name of Karolina Pliskova, 6-0, 6-0 once upon a time. And I think this is going to be a massive emotional test for her.
“Because if she does not do well at this tournament, you start to think how much can she handle this disappointment of not winning and doing well on her best surface?
“And you know, the coaching changes and the mentality, Daria [Abramowicz] wasn’t in Madrid, how’s she going to react if Daria is in Rome, and then people are going to wonder about this and about that and how the new coaching is working out.
“And maybe it’s not the coach, maybe it’s Iga.
“I feel in some ways this week is going to be incredibly tough for her, because if she does not win the tournament, or at least make the finals and play well, I think she’s going to really be stressed going into the French Open.
“Look, we know what she did at Wimbledon. She knows she’s capable of doing that now, but this is only going to get harder, because she’s not sort of the player that goes ‘meh’.
“She’s not like an [Elena] Rybakina who can have two or three bad weeks and just come back and just blow everybody out of the court.
“So I think there are a lot of question marks when it comes to Iga. Certainly with Coco [Gauff], [Aryna] Sabelenka hasn’t proven herself on the clay yet.
“So there are a lot of questions to be answered going into the French Open, the second Slam of the year. And I think the biggest question is how is Iga going to do going into the French Open? It’s a big ask.”
How would you now rate Aryna Sabalenka’s chances of winning the French Open on a scale of 1-10?
Rennae Stubbs in ‘no doubt’ Elena Rybakina can be year-end No.1
Swiatek may not have had the most satisfactory start to her season, but her record at the French Open should give her huge confidence.
The Pole is a six-time Grand Slam champion, with four of her titles having arrived on the clay courts of Roland Garros.
However, setting the pace this year have been her fierce rivals Sabalenka and Rybakina, with the former in world number one and the latter in world number two.
But Stubbs could see a change to the rankings in the near future, having been asked if she thinks Rybakina can end the year as number one.
| Rank | Player | Points |
| 1 | Aryna Sabalenka | 10,110 |
| 2 | Elena Rybakina | 8,555 |
| 3 | Iga Swiatek | 6,948 |
“I certainly think that Wimbledon will be the tell,” she replied. “I think if she wins Wimbledon, which she’s my favorite to win Wimbledon, I think she can end the year number one.
“And a lot of times it’s because she didn’t quite have the same points to defend as Sabalenka does throughout the rest of the year, right?
“Sabalenka won the US Open, so that’s a big thing, that’s 2,000 points right there if Sabalenka doesn’t win the US Open again.
“Sabalenka can make up the points at Wimbledon, but so can Rybakina. So do I think she can end the year number one? Absolutely. No doubt about it.”
At 81 successive weeks, Sabalenka’s long-held number one ranking is safe for the entirety of the Italian Open, but the position could be up for grabs at the French Open.
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