Second Serve: Can Iga Swiatek emulate Carlos Alcaraz to start clay season?

Iga Swiatek is set for a mammoth few months.

The world number two is defending 4,195 points during the clay-court season after her astonishing 2024, which saw her win every tournament bar the Stuttgart Open. Even then, she reached the semi-finals.

Poland’s Swiatek won both WTA 1,000 titles in Madrid and Italy, before picking up another 2,000 points from defending her French Open title.

Simply put, she’s defending 54% of her 7,276 points over the next six weeks – and world number three Jessica Pegula, breathing down her neck, is defending none.

Clay is Swiatek’s best surface, the slower conditions giving her more time on her pacey forehand, backed up by her superb movement around the court.

But it’s been a tricky year for Swiatek. She lost in the Australian Open semi-finals from match point up, was stunned at the Miami Open by Filipina teenager Alexandra Eala and has cut a stressed, irritable figure on court.

Swiatek has also had to deal with an upsetting incident off the court, being verbally abused by an “aggressive and taunting fan” in Miami.

A return to her favoured clay might provide a reset for her – as Carlos Alcaraz has shown.

Like Swiatek, Alcaraz is the defending French Open champion. He too has had a mixed start to the year. He too had a surprise loss in Miami and, like Swiatek, has a tendency to be overly self-critical.

The new Monte Carlo champion did not have it all his own way on his run to the title. His quarter-final against Arthur Fils was a tricky, tight encounter, and the Spaniard was second-best in the early stages of the final against Lorenzo Musetti.

But Alcaraz found a way through and, ultimately, a way to win. That is something Swiatek can emulate this week and beyond.