Iga Swiatek suffered yet another surprise defeat last night, losing her opening-round match at the Miami Open to Magda Linette.
It marks the latest low that the six-time Grand Slam champion has slumped to, and worryingly, it will likely not be the last this season.
She has looked like a shadow of the former dominant champion that once struck fear into her opponents, with her relentless attitude and suffocating play style barely recognisable now.
And, what is arguably even tougher to see is how Iga Swiatek’s mental toughness seems to have faded too, with Rennae Stubbs outlining her disappointment.
Rennae Stubbs criticises Iga Swiatek’s conduct
Speaking on the latest episode of her podcast, she ironically spoke before Swiatek’s loss to Linette.
And yet, everything she said was reflected through that match, with Linette explaining how she beat Swiatek afterwards.
Stubbs began by claiming: “The thing I don’t like to see is someone getting so upset on the court. We saw it from Coco Gauff as well.
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“It’s about what you are showing to your opponent. I’m a big proponent of that, even when I’m coaching. I’m like, you can’t show your opponent vulnerability, you just can’t, especially when you are playing against great players who are going to take advantage of that.
“I always talk about locker room reputation, but that is the locker room reputation. If you look down the other end and see her getting frustrated, you feel like ‘okay, I have a shot’, especially on a court which is usually pretty good for her. It’s quite slow in Indian Wells.”
The Australian pundit then turned her disgruntled attention to Wim Fissette, adding: “So, listen, we have spoken about it last year. I thought Wim Fisette was on his last legs last year. She wins Wimbledon and gives him basically eight more months left on his contract.
“He has to be under a lot of pressure going into the clay court season if she doesn’t pick it up and win a couple of tournaments.”
Swiatek admitted that her practices in Miami had been tricky, but few could have predicted that this would be the outcome of her run here.
Iga Swiatek’s tough start to the 2026 season continues
Although Swiatek has not been terrible in 2026, by her usual lofty standards, it has been a hugely underwhelming season so far.
After all, not only is she without a title, but she has not even looked likely to snag a trophy in the first three months of the year.
She exited in the quarter-finals of the Australian Open, Qatar Open and Indian Wells, with this latest disappointment in Miami marking the worst of the bunch.
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The 24-year-old desperately needs to change something, because shock defeats to players well beneath her on paper are becoming more and more commonplace.
Were it not for her surprise Wimbledon title last year, Swiatek’s 2025 season would have been a disappointment. Should she fail to get to the bottom of what is currently troubling her, an even worse campaign awaits her this year.
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