“The bar is too high for Iga Swiatek” – Naomi Osaka’s ex-coach defends Pole against criticism for title drought after French Open exit

Naomi Osaka’s former coach, Sascha Bajin, weighed in on Iga Swiatek’s form from last year. This came on the heels of the Pole’s exit from this year’s French Open, ending her 26-match win streak at Roland Garros.

In one of the most highly anticipated matches of the year, Swiatek faced off against top seed Aryna Sabalenka at the 2025 French Open semifinals. The Belarusian began strongly, earning a commanding 4-1 lead in the first set. However, the defending champion fought back, winning four games in a row, taking the score to 5-4. In the end, Sabalenka took the set in the tiebreaker.

However, like the champion she is, Swiatek responded in style, winning the second set 6-4. With the match on balance and potentially heading towards a thriller, Sabalenka raised her game to the next level, and the Pole’s form completely faded. The top seed bagelled Swiatek in the final set, which was the Pole’s first bagel at Roland Garros, resulting only in her third loss at the event, the first since 2021.

Trending

Sascha Bajin has been a prolific hitting partner and coach on the WTA Tour. His most notable coaching stint came with Naomi Osaka from 2017 to 2019, when the Japanese player won two of her four Grand Slam titles. He said that losing to an in-form Aryna Sabalenka at the Roland Garros semifinal was a result that was not to be scoffed at. However, he pointed out that since Swiatek has set the standard so high, not winning a title since last year looks bad on the Pole's resume.

"Everyone talking about Iga not winning anymore. Loosing to the number 1 player on tour in the Semifinal at Roland Garros is not a loss anywhere in my books. Yes she didn’t win a title in 12 months and had some disappointing results but ughh the bar is sooo high for her," Bajin wrote on X.

Bajin has also been the hitting partner of other WTA legends, like Serena Williams.

Iga Swiatek slipped down to her lowest ranking since 2020

After her French Open loss against Aryna Sabalenka, Iga Swiatek will slip down to No. 7 on the WTA rankings after the tournament ends. The Pole won five titles last year, of which she has not been able to defend any this year. She could protect her points at the WTA 1000 events in Qatar and Indian Wells this year, as he lost against the likes of Jelena Ostapenko and Mirra Andreeva.

However, it was the clay season where the Pole was near invincible last year, as she won both the WTA 1000 events in Madrid and Rome, along with the Roland Garros title. She had almost 4000 points to defend this season, but came up short as she had previously lost against Coco Gauff in Madrid and against Danielle Collins in Rome.

Iga Swiatek dropped 1220 points after her French Open exit, bringing her to No. 7 with 4618 points, just 18 points behind sixth-placed Mirra Andreeva.

×

Was this article helpful?

Thank You for feedback

About the author

SAGNIK DATTA

Sagnik, a Mass Communication and Journalism graduate, is a tennis journalist at Sportskeeda. Before finding his spot in the tennis writing team, he worked as a junior content specialist for academic content writing firms for a couple of years.

Before putting out any information in the public domain, Sagnik makes sure that every element of his content is well-researched and backed with credible data so that there is no misinterpretation of facts or quotes and ethical standards are maintained. To do so, Sagnik follows reputed websites like the Tennis Channel and Tennis TV, and renowned journalists on social media.

He is a fan of former player Roger Federer, and just like his favorite player, Sagnik likes to bring perfection to his write-ups by providing concise and on-point content. Speaking of the ‘GOAT’ debate, Sagnik believes that it is a bit unfair to compare the legends of the game from different eras who have played on different terms. But if he were to pick one, he’d go for Novak Djokovic based on his tally of 24 Grand Slam titles.

When not writing about tennis and technically analyzing the sport, which he believes are his 'forte', Sagnik indulges in reading books.

Know More