Iga Swiatek Says Right Thigh Injury Not A Concern For French Open Defense
Iga Swiatek brushed off any concerns over a thigh injury she suffered last week in a retirement to Elena Rybakina.
“Luckily nothing serious happened, so I had couple of days off,” Swiatek told the press on Friday at the French Open. “I’m still recovering from the thigh injury, but I’ll be good for my first round. That’s the most important thing for me.”
A year ago Swiatek went into the French as the big favorite riding a 30-match win streak. This year, she comes in off losses to rival Aryna Sabalenka in the Madrid final and a retirement last week.
And this year, she’s got true rivals.
“Totally different situation than last year,” Swiatek said. “We played so many matches against each other that tactically we know our game pretty well.
“But we also have to kind of come up with some different solutions sometimes, which is pretty exciting, because I never had that yet in my career. I think this is what like big three had to do for sure when they played like, I don’t know, 30 matches against each other or even more.
“It is an extra motivation, for sure.”
Swiatek still goes into Paris as the favorite seeking her third French Open title and second straight. Justine Henin in 2007 was the last woman to repeat.
“Honestly on one hand, for sure, it’s not easy getting injured and having no kind of time to, like having it in the back of your mind that you have a tournament next week,” she said. “But on the other hand I’m pretty happy that I have these extra few more days off because for sure I needed time to reset.”
Swiatek will open play on Tuesday against Spain’s Cristina Bucsa.
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