Iga Świątek’s run of 73 consecutive opening-match wins ended with a defeat to Magda Linette at the Miami Open. The world No. 50 Linette snapped Świątek’s streak, which dated back to 2021. The six-time Grand Slam champion told reporters that tennis “feels complicated in my head.”
Świątek said she is in “the worst nightmare a tennis player can have” after the result.
Świątek’s Struggles and Frustrations
Świątek said, “I’ve always been an over-thinker, but lately it’s just been so intense. It’s hard for me to get rid of many thoughts I have and this used to be my strength.” The defeat represents a low point in an up-and-down season for Świątek.
Since hiring experienced Belgian coach Wim Fissette toward the end of the 2024 season, she has had mixed results. Świątek is working through finding the right balance between baseline patience and going for too much when under stress. The highlight was last summer’s Wimbledon title, but overall Świątek has struggled to find the form that made her such a dominant world No. 1 for the previous few years. Her ranking is now No. 3.
Świątek has frequently vented her frustration at her team, which includes long-term psychologist Daria Abramowicz. This dynamic was particularly apparent toward the end of last week’s quarterfinal defeat to Elina Svitolina at the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells, Calif, which followed one of her best performances of the year: a suffocatingly restrained 6-2, 6-0 win over Karolína Muchová.
Miami Open Defeat Details
Świątek only dropped her serve twice against Linette. However, she made frequent return errors that prevented her from putting any pressure on her opponent, who won just two games in their last meeting.
Świątek said she experienced the loss as a kind of collapse, even though the scoreline and the tennis did not show it. Streaks, and the art of front-running, have been defining in her ascent to and stay at the top of the sport. She compiled the longest WTA win-streak of the 21st century in winning 37 matches in a row during 2022. Before a defeat to Maria Sakkari at this year’s Qatar Open, she had won 109 WTA 1000 matches in a row after winning the first set. Between 2022 and 2024, she compiled streaks of 44 and 56 matches in which she did not lose after winning the first set at any level.
Świątek’s Reaction and Moving Forward
“Unconsciously or consciously it’s hard for me to change things, and then my tennis kind of collapses. So I need to work now to get back from that, because for sure I haven’t felt things like that for like five years,” Świątek said.
It was March 2019, before Świątek had reached the world’s top 100, when she last lost a match having won the first set 6-0 or 6-1.
Świątek’s loss to Magda Linette in Miami was her first opening-match defeat since 2021.