Iga Swiatek under threat to not qualify for tournament for first time in six years - but coach plays down concerning situation

Iga Swiatek is in real danger of not qualifying for the WTA Finals for the first time in six years after another mixed year with some average results. Her coach, Francisco Roig, has dampened down the possible disappointment that the Pole could face as he works hard to help her get back to her ultimate best.

It felt like two steps forward and one back in North America. She came back from an abysmal Wimbledon title defence to win the Canadian Open with some brilliant tennis being played by the six-time Grand Slam champion.

She backed it up with a semi-final run in Cincinnati as she put forward her title credentials in New York. However, a fourth round exit against Zheng Qinwen is another hugely frustrating setback for the former World No.1 who goes back to the drawing board.

In the race for the WTA Finals, she sits in 10th, an unusually low spot for someone who has been used to qualifying quite comfortably. She first qualified back in 2021, winning her first and only WTA Finals title to date in 2023. She failed to make it out of the round robin in the last two editions and may not even have the chance to compete this year.

Roig, who used to work with Rafael Nadal, admitted that the WTA Finals was their ultimate goal with some huge tournaments coming up that Swiatek will hope to capitalise on. She is 700 points behind Linda Noskova in eighth with work to do before the cut-off.

"It's definitely still a long way off, but yes, it’s our goal," Roig told Radio Zet. "However, if we don’t achieve it, it won’t be the end of the world. We’ll have a little more time to prepare as best we can for next season.

“Iga [Swiatek] and I talked about the WTA Finals. The point is, if we perform well in the two upcoming tournaments, we could still [qualify] depending on our opponents’ results. That’s why we want to try to achieve the best results possible without thinking about the WTA Finals.”

As the Spaniard mentioned, the main aim is getting Swiatek back to her best, ironing out the mistakes and sloppy showings. The signs have been looking up as of late. "Above all, she made fewer mistakes," he stated. "The first rule in tennis is not to make them. I’m sure that when Iga wasn’t advancing, she often lost. It wasn’t like the other player was beating her. We were the ones losing.

“What does this mean? Iga made mistakes too often on her first serve. She tried too hard when she didn’t need to. But Iga is Iga. She has to try. But in my opinion, sometimes she wants it too much. Opponents should be trying to play against her, and she doesn’t have to do it every time."

This is what occurred en route to the title triumph in Canada. “She needs to play more solidly. And in Toronto, she improved dramatically in this regard, and she also hit better-quality balls. Her forehand had a better shape, and she played better angles on her backhand. This allowed her to extend each rally, and she later found easier balls to attack instead of trying to attack from more difficult positions.

“Fewer errors when serving high-quality balls yields a lot in tennis. With less effort, and without having to get to the ball so quickly. Sometimes Iga tries to get to the ball too quickly, and then she blocks her movement. We still need to improve all these things, and many more, but that’s the foundation.”

Swiatek will headline the WTA 1000 tournaments at the China Open and Wuhan Open. There are also some other tournaments in Asia following it which could be played in if she needs points for the showpiece event in California.