It proved to be a forgettable 25th birthday for Iga Swiatek as her clay-court season came to a disappointing end in the fourth round of the French Open. The 4-time Roland Garros champion suffered a comprehensive 7-5, 6-1 defeat to Marta Kostyuk in an hour and 34 minutes. Despite clay being Swiatek’s favored surface, this is now the second consecutive year that she hasn’t managed to win a single title on it. As a result, this defeat didn’t go down well with many of Swiatek’s fans, who were left enraged with her performance.

The Pole did put in a great effort in the first set and clinched a crucial break in the seventh game to take a 4-3 lead. She earned the chance to serve for the set at 5-4, but Kostyuk refused to go down easily and broke back to level up the set at 5-5. After holding her serve well, Kostyuk went back on the offensive as Swiatek tried to take the set into a tiebreaker. However, she would end up creating a set point for Kostyuk instead after serving two silly double-faults. Finally, a spectacular cross-court backhand winner would hand the first set to the Ukrainian.

Kostyuk took the game away from Swiatek’s reach in the second set. Though the latter started the set with a break, she would once again set up a break point for her opponent with another double-fault. Swiatek wouldn’t be able to hold her serve on the next two occasions as well, allowing Kostyuk to take a comprehensive 5-1 lead. A solid serve hold would be enough for the World No. 15 to win the match and advance to the quarterfinals.

This was her 15th consecutive victory in the ongoing clay swing and her first-ever triumph over Swiatek. The Pole had a 3-0 advantage in the H2H record coming into this match and was the favorite to reach the quarterfinals. However, she was quite weak on her serve almost throughout the match and this was a major reason behind her unexpected defeat.

Bringing in Francisco Roig before the clay swing hasn’t quite worked out for Swiatek so far. Having worked in Rafael Nadal’s coaching team for years, Roig was expected to bring a drastic change in Swiatek’s form especially on clay. But the past month turned out to be quite disappointing for the World No. 3 as she failed to clinch any titles and is still in the hunt for her first singles crown of the year.

Swiatek’s form has become a major concern ever since the Miami Open. It was the tournament where she had suffered a first-round exit to compatriot, Magda Linnette. This was the result that brought her 73-match winning streak in the opening rounds to an end. Additionally, it was after this match that she parted ways with her former coach, Wim Fissette.

Roig wasn’t able to bring a change to Swiatek’s fortunes in the tournaments that followed as she recorded second-round exits from both the Stuttgart and Madrid Open. She appeared to bounce back a little in Rome, making it to the semis after defeating players like Naomi Osaka and Jessica Pegula. However, a 4-6, 6-2, 2-6 defeat to Elina Svitolina ended her hopes of claiming a fourth title at the Italian capital.

The defeat against Kostyuk at the Roland Garros has raised even more concerns over Swiatek’s dwindling form. The result can also be a major hit to the Pole’s ranking. Having earned 780 points last year for reaching the semifinals of the Grand Slam, Swiatek is now set to lose 540 points due to her fourth-round exit.

The 25-year-old currently has 7,273 points under her belt and is almost 2,700 points behind World No. 1, Aryna Sabalenka’s tally of 9,960 points. The difference can very well increase further by the time Roland Garros ends as the latter is still in the competition and will be up against Osaka in the fourth round.

It wasn’t a surprise to see the fans raise serious questions over Swiatek’s depleting form after the result against Kostyuk. Some of them didn’t hesitate in unleashing brutal criticism towards her.

Fans left enraged after Iga Swiatek’s “awful” performance at the French Open

Though Swiatek clearly hasn’t been at her best in the past few months, one fan claimed that this was her worst performance in a while. “Might be the worst I’ve seen Iga Swiatek play in a while, her serve is awful and needs fixing quick if she wants to win anything again,” the fan wrote.

Another fan pointed out that the Pole can’t seem to get back into the match once her opponent takes the upper hand. “The thing with Iga Swiatek lately is that once she’s intimidated by an opponent, there’s no going back.”

A fan even claimed that Swiatek will never be able to win a Grand Slam title again if she doesn’t improve her performance. “Iga Swiatek will never win another Grand Slam.”

There was also a fan who made a striking comparison between Swiatek and Naomi Osaka’s mindset. “Iga Swiatek is done. But tbh she is a crazy just like Osaka. Her mind was always going to consume her at some point. And it has happened.”

Finally, a fan also remarked that bringing in Roig hasn’t solved any of Swiatek’s problems and believes that her performances have only gotten worse since Fissette left. “Swiatek still has the same issues as before. Clearly it’s not a coaching problem. I think she’s playing worse and worse as time goes on.”

With her clay swing coming to an unexpected end, Swiatek will now be aiming to improve her form in the grass-court season that will commence from June. Having clinched her maiden Wimbledon title last year, she will definitely be confident to return to the surface.

Swiatek is expected to commence her grass-court season with the HSBC Championships, which will begin from June 8.