PARIS — As Iga Swiatek prepares for her title defense at Roland Garros next week, she assured reporters she’s fit and ready to go. The 21-year-old was forced to withdraw from her Rome quarterfinal against eventual champion Elena Rybakina with a thigh injury in the third set.
“Luckily nothing serious happened, so I had a couple of days off,” Swiatek told reporters at Media Day in Paris. “I’m still recovering from the thigh injury, but I’ll be good for my first round. That’s the most important thing for me.”
A two-time champion at the French Open, Swiatek is set to face Spain’s Cristina Bucsa in the first round.
“I just love coming back here no matter what my ranking is or no matter what my previous results are,” Swiatek said.
“It’s a great place to be, and I feel really happy that I can compete and I will be healthy for my first round. So yeah, it’s just pretty exciting time no matter what happened earlier.”
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Despite the injury in Rome, Swiatek says her preparation for Roland Garros has been a calmer one compared to last year. She has played non-stop since Stuttgart, but her quarterfinal exit in Rome gave her some time to breathe.
“Having this time to reset and think about other stuff and just calm down for a couple of days was really helpful,” Swiatek said.
“And to also analyze what happened during the whole clay season. It’s a nice way to go to the last tournament of the clay season with all the knowledge that I gained.”
For the first time since ascending to the No.1 ranking in April of last year, Swiatek will be playing a tournament with the top spot on the line. That was news to Swiatek, who said she unaware of scenarios that could see No.2 Aryna Sabalenka overtake her by tournament’s end.
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The subject of the budding rivalry between Swiatek, Sabalenka and No.4 Elena Rybakina was a hot topic throughout Media Day. Last year, Swiatek arrived in Paris in the midst of what would be a 37 match win streak and the clear front-runner for the title.
With Swiatek, Sabalenka and Rybakina splitting the three biggest European clay tournaments ahead of Roland Garros, the playing field appears more level.
“Totally different situation than last year,” Swiatek said. “It’s nice to have somebody constantly kind of watching you. We played so many matches against each other that tactically we know our games…