Iga Świątek loses absurd 73-match tennis streak in shock Miami Open defeat
Iga Świątek said she is in “the worst nightmare a tennis player can have” after one of the most absurd win-streaks in tennis ended with a shock defeat to compatriot Magda Linette at the Miami Open. Linette, the world No. 50 snapped Świątek’s run of 73 consecutive opening-match wins, which dated back to 2021, in a 1-6, 7-5, 6-3 result that left the six-time Grand Slam champion telling reporters that tennis “feels complicated in my head.
” “I’ve always been an over-thinker, but lately it’s just been so intense. It’s hard for me to get rid of many thoughts I have and this used to be my strength,” Świątek said. It was March 2019, before Świątek had reached the world’s top 100, when she last lost a match having won the first set 6-0 or 6-1.
The defeat represents a low point in an up-and-down season for Świątek. Since hiring experienced Belgian coach Wim Fissette toward the end of the 2024 season, she has had mixed results as she works through finding the right balance between baseline patience and going for too much when under stress. The highlight was last summer’s Wimbledon title, but overall Świątek has struggled to find the form that made her such a dominant world No.
1 for the previous few years. Her ranking is now No. 3.
Świątek has frequently vented her frustration at her team, which includes long-term psychologist Daria Abramowicz. This dynamic was particularly apparent toward the end of last week’s quarterfinal defeat to Elina Svitolina at the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells, Calif, which followed one of her best performances of the year: a suffocatingly restrained 6-2, 6-0 win over Karolína Muchová. This loss to Linette did not follow a recent trend of Świątek imploding when things have gone against her, which has been worsened by the unreliability of her first serve.
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