Andy Roddick shares thoughts about Iga Swiatek's chances at French Open after receiving 'most brutal draw'

Former world Andy Roddick believes that Poland’s Iga Swiatek has gotten the ‘most brutal’ draw at the French Open this season. The 23-year-old will be defending her title at the Roland Garros this year, which she lifted last year after beating Italy’s Jasmine Paolini in the final in straight sets with a score of 6-2, 6-1.

It was Swiatek’s fourth French Open title and third in three years. The former world number one has not had a match at the Roland Garros since 2021, where she was defeated in the quarterfinal by Greece’s Maria Sakkari. Despite those performances, Swiatek will not be arriving at this year’s second Grand Slam as a favourite, largely because of her performances in the recent past.

The Warsaw-born has not won a single WTA or Grand Slam title since lifting the French Open last year. In 2025, she played in four semifinals but lost in every one of them. Those performances have pushed Swiatek down to fifth in the WTA rankings, which resulted in her having a relatively tougher draw this time around. Former world number one Roddick, in his podcast, stated that in his opinion, the five-time Grand Slam winner has received the ‘most brutal’ draw on both men’s and women’s sides. However, the one-time Grand Slam winner stated that Swiatek deserves more ‘respect’ because of her achievements in the competition and that she should not have been ruled out from the list of favourites because of her poor performances in the recent past.

“Iga Swiatek to the semis,” he said. “We have to like some semblance of respect for this, but she has the most brutal draw on either side Men’s and Women’s. I just have to like respect the four-time Roland Garros champion and think that she’s going to find something. Now can she find it? She’s been there ten days early, I don’t know if that’s good or bad. First time in half a decade she’s been an underdog. Now Iga is working backwards, our strengths are our weaknesses. She’s Intense, she is stressed, but that also keeps her like in the moment all the time. I don’t know, I get like it’s amazing to me that we are having this conversation, taking Iga Swiatek to the semis, and I get why she hasn’t been in great form, but she’s still made the semis of Madrid, she made the semis of the Australian Open. She’s played fine for normies. I don’t know if I go down, I’m wrong, I can live with myself with respecting Iga Swiatek call because I think that respect fades too quickly with her.”