Serena Williams' ex-coach Rennae Stubbs sees warning signs in Iga Swiatek's confidence ahead of crucial clay swing
Serena Williams' ex-coach Rennae Stubbs voiced her concern for Iga Swiatek ahead of the Pole's upcoming campaigns across the three biggest events of the European claycourt swing; the Madrid Open, the Italian Open, and the French Open. Stubbs' concern stemmed from Swiatek's recent loss to Jelena Ostapenko in the quarterfinals of the 2025 Porsche Tennis Grand Prix in Stuttgart.
The defeat was the former No. 1's sixth in a row to the Latvian. Swiatek is yet to register a WTA Tour-level win over Ostapenko. More worryingly for the Pole, she hasn't won a title since last year's French Open.
Rennae Stubbs, a former women's doubles No. 1 who coached Serena Williams for the 2022 US Open, recently spoke up about Iga Swiatek's situation on an episode of The Rennae Stubbs Tennis Podcast. The 54-year-old began by revisiting the Pole's red-hot form in 2022 following the retirement of Ashleigh Barty.
When Barty bid farewell to her tennis-playing career, she was the WTA No. 1. Her retirement, along with Swiatek's second-round win at the 2022 Miami Open, resulted in the Pole becoming the new top-ranked women's singles tennis player on the WTA Tour rankings.
"Look at two three years ago she had a 37-match win streak, right, I mean from the Australian Open, the moment Ash Barty pulled out as number one player in the world, Iga won Indian Wells, Miami, every clay court tournament, the French Open, she was on fire," Stubbs said.
Williams' former coach went on to opine that in recent months, the five-time Major champion has been low on confidence. According to Stubbs, this negatively impacted her performance against Ostapenko, who already had a 5-0 head-to-head lead over the Pole ahead of their recent Stuttgart encounter.
"I call it a plaque on the brain. Right when you're not confident, there's little things that start getting into your brain and you've got to chip away at them. And so you got to chip away at this Iga matchup with Ostapenko in some way. But a lot of it is, she now has this scared feeling of 'I'm not winning and I'm not getting the wins on clay. What's happening to me?' And so, is there concern?" Stubbs continued.
Stubbs further stated that if the current WTA No. 2 doesn't perform well across Madrid, Rome and Roland Garros, it might take a psychological toll on the Pole as she needs confidence to produce her best tennis.
"Absolutely, I think there's a little bit of concern. Can she get it back and right the ship in Madrid, Rome and the French for sure? But if she doesn't, yes, I do worry about her psyche going forward because her game is so predicated on confidence," she added.
Concerningly for Swiatek, her first challenge in Madrid is to get past an opponent who shockingly defeated her earlier this year.
Iga Swiatek to begin Madrid Open campaign with 2R clash against her conqueror from Miami Open 2025
19-year-old Alexandra Eala from the Philippines stunned 2022 Miami Open champion Iga Swiatek in the quarterfinals of this year's edition of the hardcourt WTA 1000 tournament. On the day, Swiatek was uncharacteristically erratic, particularly on serve, and Eala ruthlessly capitalized on the opportunity to seal a 6-2, 7-5 win.
At the 2025 Madrid Open, Iga Swiatek, the No. 2 seed, received a first-round bye. In the second round, she will have the chance to avenge her Miami Open loss to Eala. The Filipino reached the second round of the WTA 1000 claycourt event in the Spanish capital with a 6-3, 6-2 first-round victory against Viktoriya Tomova.
During a press conference following her win over Tomova, Eala assessed her upcoming matchup in Madrid against Swiatek, saying:
"I definitely think that each match is a different story. Even if it's against the same player every time -- doesn't matter if I play her at the same time next year in Miami or in Madrid next year, it's going to be a different story than the last one."
It is worth noting that Iga Swiatek is the defending champion at the 2025 Madrid Open. The Pole defeated current World No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka in last year's thrilling final.