"Iga Swiatek has not played well in Australia, that's in her head now" - Lindsay Davenport on Pole's Melbourne struggles

Lindsay Davenport believes that Iga Swiatek has a mental block when competing at the Australian Open.

Swiatek's first appearance at the Melbourne Major came in 2019. Since then, she has managed to go past the fourth round only once, when she reached the semifinals (lost to Danielle Collins) in 2022.

This year, the World No. 1 was expected to put together a strong run Down Under and maybe clinch her maiden title at Melbourne Park. However, she could not progress past the third round, losing 3-6, 6-3, 6-4 to Czech teenager Linda Noskova.

After her Australian Open exit, three-time Major winner Davenport opined that Swiatek isn't comfortable playing in Australia. The former American pro further stated that the Pole is not at her best when playing at the hardcourt Majors.

"I think it really goes to show, when she won the US Open, she was so emotional right? Do you remember? She wasn't comfortable playing in New York and she thought that was her greatest triumph. I don't know if it's something about playing in a hardcourt Major or what, but she has not played well in Australia," she said.

"I think that's in her head now and she's trying to talk herself out of it through this whole Australian swing saying ‘Oh no, I'm playing. I am feeling good.’ Really Danielle Collins had that [second round] match, right? And Iga being able to get through that," she added.

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"Something about that serve really threw off Iga Swiatek" - Lindsay Davenport on Pole's defeat to Linda Noskova

Linda Noskova at the 2024 Australian Open.

After her defeat to Linda Noskova at the Australian Open, Iga Swiatek admitted that she found it hard to read the teenager's serve.

"It was tough to read her serve. I would say she kind of serves Aryna Sabalenka's, Elena Rybakina's style in terms of the placement and the speed," she said at a press conference.

Following Swiatek's statement, Lindsay Davenport said that Noskova’s serve doesn't stand out when viewed from the sidelines. The 47-year-old wondered if the Pole couldn't read the Czech player's serve or if she was too nervous to do so.

"I was so curious when she was talking about Noskova’s serve, comparing her to Sabalenka and Rybakina. We think really highly of this Czech youngster, a big server wasn't necessarily on our radar. Her first serve average was 103, it just doesn't seem like it was that big number like 110 or 115 that you associate. So something about that serve really threw off Iga. Normally she's a great returner but she either couldn’t read it or she was just so nervous that she didn't react," she said.