Australian Open: Iga Swiatek needs a new game plan according to Mats Wilander, after crashing out in round three

The world No. 1 took the opening set before Noskova’s huge serve and ground strokes proved too much for Swiatek to handle.

Losing in three sets for her earliest slam exit since Wimbledon 2022, Swiatek now has another heavy-hitting player to watch out for in Noskova, who joins the likes of Elena Rybakina and Aryna Sabalenka as some of the biggest power players in the women’s game. When you add in the likes of Coco Gauff to that list, it soon becomes clear what Swiatek is up against.

As it stands, Swiatek’s game is starting to look fallible when she plays anyone who can hit through the baseline – but Eurosport’s expert Mats Wilander has some ideas for the Pole.

“[Linda] Noskova hits the ball really hard and it has become common knowledge that this is how you have to play against Iga Swiatek on a hard court,” Wilander said.

“A lot of shots go to Swiatek’s forehand and it’s supposed to be one of the best forehands in the women’s game. For Iga, I think what she should do and she’s a big fan of Rafael Nadal, is she has a very extreme grip on her forehand and because of that she has more topspin than any other woman, and maybe she has to go to that a little bit more.

“It is very difficult with that grip to try and out-hit these other women as they are such clean ball strikers these days.”

Although Swiatek has a winning head-to-head record against Sabalenka, she has not faced her in a Grand Slam since 2022, and Sabalenka’s serve is a much more robust part of her game now than it was then. Against Rybakina, Swiatek has not tasted victory since 2021.

“It seems like she played the match today how she feels she has to play all these matches to beat Rybakina, to beat Sabalenka, to beat these big hitters,” Wilander continued.

“And maybe she needs to go back to the drawing board and go okay, this isn’t working, maybe I need to loop the ball a little bit…”

Laura Robson knows a thing or two about mighty forehands, and she was quick to agree that Swiatek needs to change her approach if she is to make inroads on the hard courts.

“I think the issue today was that the adjustment she made in the off-season to be more aggressive on certain shots, and that just wasn’t the game plan that was going to work for her,” Robson said.

“If you look at how big Noskova was hitting, at one point she was hitting bigger than the guys’ match on Margaret Court Arena, which was Feleix Auger-Aliassime and [Daniil] Medvedev.

“So, it is very hard to match that power for power and if you see the players that Iga is starting to struggle against a little bit… Something has to be figured out – whether it is to step back behind the baseline to play herself back into the rally, but I love her attitude.

“She is a perfectionist, she is looking for those 1% differences, and as soon as something clicks against these big hitters I think it’s going to be free running for her as still the athleticism was there, everything else was there.

“I just felt like she just couldn’t quite figure it out on court.”