Iga Swiatek's difficult 2026 season took another turn for the worse as she tearfully withdrew from her third-round match at the Madrid Open against Ann Li due to illness.
The former world number one, who has yet to reach a quarter-final this year, revealed after the match that she is battling a virus. She had her temperature and blood pressure checked after losing the first two games of the deciding set. Despite taking medication, Swiatek appeared lethargic and ultimately retired trailing 6-7 (4), 6-2, 0-3, 0-30 before walking off the court in tears.
"The last two days were pretty terrible," said the Pole. "I think I have some virus. It's been some hours fine, some hours pretty bad. I heard there is something going on between players, that the virus is somewhere on site. I'm sure I'll be fine in a couple of days, but I had zero energy."
Swiatek seemed to have turned the match around after losing a tight first set, but her demeanor in the third set made the withdrawal unsurprising. She added, "I just felt really bad physically, and yesterday, even worse. I thought maybe today it's going to be better – maybe it was, but not enough to play a match."
Asked if she considered skipping the match entirely, the fourth seed said: "I knew that it was going to be hard but I still wanted to try. In the third set I started feeling a little bit dizzy and not really coordinated. I couldn't really drink anything because I just felt like I'm full constantly, and the energy went down drastically."
Swiatek will now focus on recovery before the Italian Open in Rome next month, where she hopes to find form under new coach Francisco Roig ahead of Roland Garros. "It's sad for me that I can't play because I was feeling really good with my game, and I was moving forward in the process. The tournament has just started. I couldn't even compete today, so it's disappointing," she said.
In other matches, two-time grand slam finalist Jasmine Paolini also exited in the third round, losing 7-5, 6-3 to American Hailey Baptiste. In men's singles, second seed Alexander Zverev dropped a set to Argentina's Mariano Navone but recovered to win 6-1, 3-6, 6-3. Defending champion Casper Ruud breezed past Spain's Jaume Munar 6-0, 6-1, while third seed Felix Auger-Aliassime advanced to the third round.
