French Open: ‘Heaps of problems’ – Experts tell Karolina Muchova to emulate retired star against Iga Swiatek

Eurosport’s experts have been breaking down the ways Karolina Muchova can spring a big surprise and attempt to topple Iga Swiatek in the women’s final at the 2023 French Open on Saturday.

The trio do believe there is a chance for Muchova if she continues picking her shots as well as she has so far at this tournament, and the example was given of the recently retired Ash Barty for the formula to defeat the dominant Pole.

“There is a chance for Muchova,” Wilander said on Eurosport. “You have to throw Iga off her rhythm.

“I don’t know if she can do it with power like Elena Rybakina can, but she can do it with other shot selections. We’ve seen her lose to certain players, and when you see players like her lose, other players start to think they can beat her too.

“That’s a different story to last year, where there was no chance of beating Iga. This year, there’s a big difference.”

For Schett, it’s obvious which highlights reels she needs to be studying ahead of the match.

“If I was Muchova, I would watch the matches Iga played against Barty because she had heaps of problems against her, and how did she play?” she asked.

“Using the slice, a big forehand, and a big serve.”

Corretja added: “Muchova doesn’t need to switch it up too much, otherwise she’ll get confused. She can go from forehand to forehand, into Iga’s forehand, and from backhand to backhand she might need to play solidly. She could use open angles to see if Iga struggles.

“I would definitely attack Iga’s second serve, stepping in, moving and looking to push her as much as possible to make her uncomfortable. Or go to the body and start on the forehand side. Try to avoid the backhand from the beginning of the point.

“You need to do something where Iga is uncomfortable. If she’s comfortable, she’s on autopilot, and there’s no chance of beating her.

“From what I saw of her against Beatriz Haddad Maia, she can be desperate at times, when the balls aren’t as fast as she’d like, and she can’t do as much as she’d like. She looks like she can get stressed out when she’s not winning points.

“I don’t think Karolina needs to go for much because otherwise she’ll make mistakes.”

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