Roig, Nadal and the memory of the Foro Italico

The split with Wim Fissette at the start of the year opened a new chapter. Francisco Roig, a 59-year-old Spaniard, former tour player and pillar of the Nadal Academy in Mallorca, took charge of the Pole in April. The collaboration began with an intensive week of training in Manacor, documented by Rafa’s own team, with sessions on the academy’s red clay where Nadal personally supervised several practices. Images of Świątek and Nadal hitting together on court circulated on social media, and the signal was strong enough for Pegula to say on a podcast that it was very bad news for the rest of the tour to see Iga training with Rafa. She was proven right faster than she expected, since she lost 6–1 6–2 to her the next day on the same court. Roig has been following the tournament from his Roman bench with a ruptured Achilles tendon suffered at the start of the week, leg in a cast, but the connection is there and the results have spoken over the last four matches.

The Pole in Rome this week has gone through two radically different phases. A sluggish opening against McNally in three sets with a dropped second set, then the switch flipped. Cocciaretto 6–1 6–0 in 65 minutes. Osaka 6–2 6–1 in 1h20 with 23 winners for 9 unforced errors. Pegula yesterday 6–1 6–2 in 1h05 for her first win of the season against a top-10 player. Four matches, a steady rise in level that looks exactly like the profile of a player fine-tuning her settings round after round. She is a three-time champion in this stadium, in 2021, 2022 and 2024. This court belongs to her.

Twice champion in Rome in 2017 and 2018, Svitolina knows this tournament and what it takes to go deep. Her run this week is that of a player who fights every match: a win over Baptiste, a win over Siniaková, then yesterday’s feat against Rybakina, turned around after losing the first set 2–6 sharply before finding the resources to impose her game in 2h25. She comes in with heavy legs but maximum confidence, facing a player on the other side who hasn’t suffered in five days.

Świątek builds her game on a heavy, high-kicking topspin forehand that rises up to the shoulder, a ball that crushes the opponent’s backhand and pushes defensive players out of their comfort zone. What the Nadal session in Mallorca worked on specifically was the intent behind that shot: hitting earlier, more forward, not waiting for the bounce but taking the ball on the rise to further accentuate the angle and the pace off the racquet. Svitolina is a baseline defender who counterattacks when opponents let up; she needs time and long rallies. Against this heavy topspin on a very slow surface and in humid conditions tomorrow morning, she will find neither the time nor the space.