"Total collapse, I didn't see enough fight": Iga Swiatek panned after Kostyuk surprise exit at Roland Garros

The Queen of Clay Iga Swiatek was superb at times during the French Open, but her crown has slipped for the second year in a row as Marta Kostyuk who has not lost on clay this season accounted for her to reach Quarter-Finals of the French Open.

For Kostyuk, it was sheer euphoria as she continues her run that saw her win Madrid and Rouen prior to that but for Swiatek, it is another poor showing at her best Grand Slam and leaves only really Sabalenka in. Gauff and Anisimova also fell in recent days at the French Open at Roland Garros.

But for Chris Evert, she said that for Swiatek it is about returning to the drawing board as Sabalenka looks to ascend towards winning the title for the first time and in her view it is now Swiatek's time to keep it all quite simple as she chases the elusive return to her best in the coming months starting with her Wimbledon title defence. “For Iga, it’s back to the drawing board. I guess it was a little too early to think her game would change that drastically after having a new coaching team as it’s only been a few weeks," said Evert on TNT Sport.

“Back to the drawing board and try to figure out her game style and how she will play. Keep it simple but clean up those errors, how to get maybe a bigger serve, how to feel more comfortable coming to the net.”

“There are some great players left but you can’t take anything for granted. The fact those top seeds lost, the depth is there and these players aren’t intimidated any more.”

While Anne Keothavong was a bit more scathing on the same coverage saying that Swiatek totally collapsed and that she didn't look like she had any desire to even change any of it whatsoever and get back on track

“There was a total collapse from Swiatek in the second set, I didn’t see enough fight.

“I didn’t see any desire to change anything out there. Credit to Marta Kostyuk, she’s going from strength to strength, the only woman who has yet to lose a match on clay this season. She’s looking good, moving well, and she looks relaxed as well.”

While Tim Henman put it solely down to unforced errors and a lot of them during the tie which proved to be her achilles heel and getting rid of those first and foremost is what is setting her back from reaching her top level especially against a talent like Kostyuk who is red hot.

“The lack of recognition from Swiatek as to what works and what doesn’t… What doesn’t work is unforced errors.

“At every level of this sport it’s about not making mistakes. Admittedly, you’ve got to be able to hit the ball pretty hard and go close to the line, but Swiatek made probably 40 unforced errors and around 13 winners, that’s a huge differential.

“If you’re giving your opponent a 30-love start in every game, you’re going to be up against it, there never was a change of tactic to say okay, I’m going to stay in this rally, play with shape, ask my opponent to try and hit winners.

“After that first set, it snowballed so quickly. 7-5 6-1 is a hugely disappointing result for someone who has had so much success here.”