Rennae Stubbs did not hold back on her assessment of Iga Swiatek’s Madrid Open semi-final performance.
The 23-year-old looked lost in court as she sprayed multiple errors all over the court in the Spanish capital.
This was especially surprising given how dominant Iga Swiatek usually is on clay, and Gauff had yet to beat her on the surface.
But that streak is now over and Coco Gauff secured an empathic 6-1, 6-1 victory in just one hour and four minutes, and Rennae Stubbs was left stunned by what she witnessed.
Rennae Stubbs explains what Iga Swiatek did in Madrid against Coco Gauff that she had not seen before
Like many of those in the tennis world Stubbs watched Swiatek and Gauff, two of the world’s best, compete for a spot in the Madrid Open final.
Many were shocked with the outcome, including the Australian, who was left stunned by her display in the heavy defeat, as Swiatek produced 21 unforced errors and won just two games.
Taking her podcast to assess the match, Stubbs heavily criticised Swiatek’s tactics and execution and mentioned what she should play.
“Objectively that was arguably the worst match I have ever seen Iga Swiatek play in my entire life,” Stubbs said. “It was terrible! Mistakes out the wazoo. Not serving well. Missing easy backhands, missing easy forehands, missing returns. It was just brutal.
“I have never seen such a great player, particularly on a surface which is owned by her, play and look so incredibly lost on the tennis court. There is no height on her shots.
“There is no margin on her shots. She is going for shots that she shouldn’t be. She is pulling the trigger too early in the point. It was just brutal.
“The flip side is that Coco was absolutely outstanding. Serving out of her mind. Acing, left and right. Which is another thing – Iga stand back! How about take a step back in the court and give your opponent a different look?
“Coco did not give a lot of the free stuff. She wasn’t double faulting. She was hitting a lot of aces. She served that one out wide like 80% of the time. Like Iga, what the F, stand over there or stand back!”
Rennae Stubbs explains how coach Wim Fissette should have advised Iga Swiatek against Coco Gauff in Madrid
Swiatek has been coached by Wim Fissette since October 2024, replacing Tomasz Wiktorowski.
But so far the Belgian has yet to guide Swiatek to a title, and she suffered some disappointing and somewhat surprising defeats this season.
Coach Fissette needs to help Swiatek rebound from her heavy defeat to Gauff in Madrid, but Stubbs thinks he should have changed something in Madrid which could have helped Swiatek change her fortunes in the match.
“No offence but Wim, come on man. You are sitting there and can tell her anything you want. How about changing your return position? Get in her head a little bit,” she said.
“The one thing you want from Coco is to lose her rhythm on her serve. But you are staying in the same spot going for the same ridiculous return.
“Coco did not miss her forehand. You could tell Iga was going to her forehand but she wasn’t making a mistake and all of a sudden it was like what do I do. It was like what do you mean, what do I do?
“You have to move the ball! It was almost like she was so fixated on hitting the ball to her forehand that she would have an easy backhand and try and go down the line and miss it. I’m like, just hit your best backhand. Your best backhand is as good as anybody else’s. Yes, Coco has a great backhand but sometimes you have to step up.
“Which is why she used to beat Coco all the time because she was like I can handle your backhand. It was almost like Wim was like you only go to the forehand, which is like okay, but Coco has lost matches missing backhands too.”
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