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Iga Swiatek suffered one of her worst defeats of the year at the China Open on Wednesday, going out to Emma Navarro in three sets. Taking on the American in the Round of 16, Swiatek produced 70 unforced errors in the 4-6, 6-4, 0-6 loss in Beijing.
Swiatek was coming into the tournament fresh off her title run at the Korea Open, and was one of the main favorites for the title. Furthermore, with World No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka not playing, a title run here would have helped the Pole narrow the gap at the top of the WTA rankings.
On Wednesday, however, it was a strange sight that awaited Swiatek's fans. In a ultra-aggressive display of high-risk tennis, the World No. 2 went after every ball, losing control of the narrative as Navarro was happy to just balls back in play and watch her opponent self-destruct.
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Taking to social media after the loss, tennis fans were very worried about Swiatek, wondering what has happened to the former World No. 1 this year that has resulted in a string of strange losses.
"This year has offered so many contenders for worst swiatek performances ever, really feels like her floor has dropped quite a lot," one fan said.
"I’m not even a fan of Iga but was embarrassed watching that. No clue what was happening," another wrote.
Here are a few more reactions from fans:
"Sabalenka is officially far above the rest of the tour in terms of level. Literally no one has the mental strength to match her, and she is definitely the only player that isn’t a shitty error machine."
"I don’t even know if we can say Iga just had a bad day in the office It’s the same story all over again — her inability/unwillingness (?) to regroup and slow down when she’s making an error after an error is truly disturbing."
"Funny how the same type of players Iga used to dominate are the ones she has struggled against this year and the ones she struggled against are the ones she beats every time now."
"It’s high time we all accept that Iga has really poor tennis IQ."
Earlier this year, Swiatek fell to Anisimova at the US Open, to Clara Tauson at the Canadian Open, and to Jessica Pegula at Bad Homburg. Before that, she lost twice to Mirra Andreeva and once to Alexandra Eala, not to mention a couple of uncompetitive loses to Jelena Ostapenko.
Iga Swiatek has won three titles in 2025 despite strange season
Funnily enough, Iga Swiatek still has won three titles in 2025, including one Grand Slam triumph. That came at Wimbledon, when she double-bageled Amanda Anisimova in the final. In addition to that, she also won the Cincinnati Open and the Korea Open, making for a decent-yet-strange year.
Swiatek has also qualified for the year-end WTA Finals, along with Coco Gauff and Aryna Sabalenka at the moment. Swiatek is likely to play next at the Wuhan Open, another WTA 1000-level event.
