Iga Swiatek Knows What She Needs to Improve After Australian Open

Unlike ahead of her 2025 campaign, there was no "eureka moment" during this year's pre-season training block for Iga Swiatek.

By her own admission, the Pole was still getting to grips with some techniques that she and coach Wim Fissette had worked on over the off-season, whilst in live play at this month's Australian Open. This was evident across several of her five matches in Melbourne, as the former World No. 1 frequently battled against her own serve and leaked uncharacteristic errors in a mixed bag of performances.

"We changed some stuff that was, for me, a bit of a 'Eureka' moment," Swiatek explained, referencing her pre-season from one year ago, in her post-match press conference following a frustrating 7-5, 6-1 loss to Elena Rybakina.

"This year, we didn't manage to completely close the stuff that we wanted to change in the pre-season, so this year I felt like I also needed to work on it during the tournament, and that's why maybe I felt like I played a tiny bit worse."

Given that Swiatek's 2026 preparation was still a work in progress, the six-time Grand Slam champion still managed to construct a productive opening run in Australia.

Despite the lopsided 6-1, 1-6, 6-1 score line against Anna Kalinskaya in the third round and her nervy struggles against Yue Yuan at the start of the tournament, Swiatek was still able to swat away World No. 43 Marie Bouzkova and bring a chastening end to Maddison Inglis' uplifting run to the last four. In doing so, the Pole became the youngest player to reach six consecutive Grand Slam quarter-finals since Serena Williams in 2003.

What is still more heartening for Swiatek is that she appears to know exactly where she wants to apply her focus for improvement.

"I know what I need to improve, and it’s the same stuff I had in my mind before the tournament," she continued. "So there’s no breakthrough lesson. I’m just going to keep doing my job, and hopefully by the next tournament I’ll get some stuff settled in terms of what I want to do with my game."

Swiatek's Serve a Work in Progress After 2025 Improvements

This time last year, it was apparent that Swiatek and her team had worked on shortening her forehand take-back, something which served her beautifully on the quick-fire grass courts of Wimbledon as she claimed her maiden title at SW19 just six months later.

Intriguingly, though, it was also her supreme service numbers that helped propel the Pole to an unexpected maiden Wimbledon triumph last summer. Fast forward to the start of 2026, and it is Swiatek's uncertainty on her delivery that has formed a defining hallmark of her demise in Melbourne.

The deficiency in this area was stark against the imperious serving of Rybakina in the pair's quarter-final. Across the opening set, the powerful Kazakh only managed to land 41% of first serves, but won 93% of those points.

By the second, Rybakina had lifted her first-serve percentage to 60%, with Swiatek's not far behind at 57%. But the Pole could only muster a first-serve win percentage of 50%, while the same stat behind her second delivery floundered at 17% - compared with 67% and 70% respectively for her opponent. After a break of the Rybakina serve in the opening game, the Kazakh then saw out the match with four of her own without reply to seal safe passage into a fourth Grand Slam semifinal.

Reduced Calendar for Swiatek in 2026?

The good news for Swiatek is that the serve is very much the area of focus she plans to work on ahead of the next big-tournament stop on the calendar. Although in order to implement these changes, she was candid in revealing that some events may have to be removed from her schedule in order to carve out enough time to apply these tweaks to her game.

"My serve wasn't the best, so it was hard to do that to keep the score even in the second set," she conceded. "It's been pretty tough for me to have a smooth process. I see Carlos, for example, changing his serve every year. "For me, it's one little thing that takes a much longer time. I'll focus on that... for sure, there's some stuff that I can change to play better, and I'll try to do that in next weeks and months."

Swiatek leaves the 2026 Australian Open with her campaign for a career Grand Slam over for another year. Yet, despite falling a round earlier than she did twelve months ago, constructive talk of the improvements she plans to make gave a positive complexion to her post-match comments.

It is worth remembering that only seven months ago, few thought it likely that her top-spin heavy game would allow her to triumph on the grass courts of Wimbledon. In the end, all it took to get over the line was a few minor but effective tweaks.

After another disappointing Australian Open exit, the Pole now plans the same for an eventual victory at Melbourne Park. "Maybe I will have it next year," as Swiatek herself reflected.

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