Stubbs on Swiatek: "Good luck to all the other players when the clay season starts".
Iga Swiatek was very close to her first Australian Open final.
After a match of excellent quality, the Polish player, world number 2, missed a match point in her semi-final loss to Madison Keys.
Then, after a breathtaking tie-break, it was Keys who finally qualified for the grand final.
A defeat that inevitably hurts Swiatek, who was in search of a second Grand Slam title on hard court after winning the 2022 US Open.
In her podcast, however, Rennae Stubbs expressed optimism for Swiatek in the future if she can maintain this level on hard court.
"I've never seen Iga Swiatek play such a good match on hard court (against Keys). The match came down to a few points here and there, a forehand on match point and in the tie-break.
We're quibbling over the details of the player who lost this match. But, honestly, it was the best match of her career on this surface.
And yet, she won the US Open. She hit the ball so well, everything went into the court. She probably should have won that match.
She served to win the match, she had a match point on which she didn't serve badly. Madison just made an excellent return.
There's not much in this match that we could objectively criticize about her, and that makes me think that Swiatek isn't going to lose a clay-court match this year.
If she plays like this on a fast surface, good luck to all the other players when the clay-court season gets underway", assured Stubbs.
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