Iga Swiatek ‘positive’ she will be fit to defend French Open title at Roland-Garros despite nursing thigh injury
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Updated 19/05/2023 at 18:07 GMT
World No. 1 and reigning French Open champion Iga Swiatek is confident she will be fit enough to defend her Roland-Garros title despite nursing a thigh injury. The 21-year-old was forced to retire from her Italian Open quarter-final against Elena Rybakina on Wednesday but is “positive” she’ll be available for the Grand Slam in Paris. "It shouldn't be anything serious,” she revealed after tests.
Swiatek says thigh injury ‘shouldn’t be anything serious’ ahead of French Open
Iga Swiatek is set to begin her French Open defence next week despite retiring from her Italian Open quarter-final on Wednesday with a thigh injury.
She became a doubt for the second Grand Slam of the year when she pulled out midway through the third set of her last-eight match against Elena Rybakina on Wednesday.
But despite fears, the world No. 1 has revealed she should be fit to play in Paris.
"We did an examination with the physio afterwards," said Swiatek. "It shouldn't be anything serious, so I'm pretty positive that I'll be back soon.
"For sure I feel tired. I think it was the right decision to stop playing [in Rome] because I felt pain when I was stretching, when I did harder movements.
"For me, the most important thing is to play it safe and not exploit my body so much in such difficult conditions, after having to play a few matches in night sessions and after midnight.
"I'm happy right now to have few days off because since [a previous tournament in] Stuttgart I wasn't really able to recover with that tight schedule that we have on the WTA."
Swiatek was on a 14-match winning streak in Rome as she looked to close in on a third consecutive Italian Open title.
The three-time major winner could begin her Roland-Garros defence on Sunday, May 28 when the main draw action gets underway.
The Polish star also informed her social media followers of her intention to play in an encouraging message on Twitter.
She wrote: "A couple of days off for sure. And booking my flight to Paris, so fingers crossed, please."
In last year’s tournament, she dominated American Coco Gauff in the final to win 6-1 6-3 and claim her second French Open title.
There was more big injury news regarding the French Open as it was revealed on Thursday that 14-time champion Rafael Nadal will miss the tournament due to a lack of fitness after failing to recover from a hip injury in time.
He hasn’t missed a French Open since 2004, and the Spaniard admitted 2024 will likely be his last.
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