French Open champion and world number one Iga Swiatek has expressed optimism over her chances of playing in the upcoming Grand Slam tournament despite picking up a thigh injury at the Italian Open.
The 21-year-old made a tearful exit from the ongoing WTA 1000 event during her quarter-final with Elena Rybakina, ultimately being forced to call it quits in the third set.
Swiatek - who won the Rome Masters event in 2021 and 2022 - had taken the first set against Rybakina, but the Wimbledon champion fought back to force a third, where Swiatek retired with the scores level at 2-2.
The Pole initially required a medical timeout during the second-set tie-breaker, and her withdrawal immediately raised fears about her participation at Roland Garros.
However, Swiatek has since provided a reassuring update on her condition, saying: "We did an examination with the physio afterwards. It shouldn't be anything serious, so I'm pretty positive that I'll be back soon," as quoted by BBC Sport.
"For sure I feel tired. I think it was the right decision to stop playing because I felt pain when I was stretching, when I did harder movements. For me, the most important thing is to play it safe and not exploit my body so much in such difficult conditions, after having to play a few matches in night sessions and after midnight.
"I'm happy right now to have a few days off because since Stuttgart I wasn't really able to recover with that tight schedule that we have on the WTA."
Swiatek overcame Coco Gauff in straight sets to clinch her second French Open title in 2022, having defeated Sofia Kenin in 2020 for her maiden Grand Slam crown.
While there is hope over Swiatek's fitness, defending men's champion and 14-time winner Rafael Nadal announced on Thursday that he would be forced to miss Roland-Garros - which runs from May 28 to June 11 - due to his problematic hip injury.
