By Shrivathsa Sridhar
(Reuters) – Iga Swiatek will gear up for Wimbledon by staying open-minded about her prospects as the world number one bids to improve her modest record on a surface she has not fully mastered yet.
The 22-year-old Pole stamped her authority as the world’s top player with a third French Open crown by beating Karolina Muchova this month to take her Grand Slam tally to four.
While successful on clay and hardcourts, U.S. Open champion Swiatek has not got past the last 16 at Wimbledon and saw her incredible 37-match winning run last year ended in the third round of the grasscourt Grand Slam by Alize Cornet.
Swiatek was keen to return to basics for the grasscourt swing, where the expectations placed on her are not as high.
“Before every grasscourt season, I just want to keep being open-minded and learn a lot,” Swiatek told reporters after her French Open triumph.
“I feel like there’s maybe a little less pressure, but on the other hand when I just go on court I feel like I know how I can play tennis and I know how I can play on other surfaces.
“On grass sometimes it’s tougher and I still have to learn a lot but I just feel you’re going to go on court and not play the way you should or the way you could; so this thing is adding more pressure.
“The pressure from the outside, it’s maybe a bit less, it depends on you guys (the media) and what questions you ask.”
‘TOUGH CHALLENGE’
Swiatek bagged the Wimbledon junior title in 2018 but has an ordinary record on grass at the tour level and said ahead of the WTA event in Bad Homburg this week that she hoped to spend more time on the surface to find the formula for success.
“Maybe there’s going to be a chance to play more matches,” Swiatek said. “But I’m pretty sure that still when I’m going to play these matches, I’m going to feel a bit uncomfortable.
“But I also trust that every year I’m going to learn more and more and I’m going to progress anyway. It’s a short season, only three weeks, so the challenge is tough.”
She needed three sets to see off Tatjana Maria in her opener in Germany but finished with a bagel that has become her speciality on the tour, before a comfortable victory over Jil Teichmann in the next round.
Swiatek has dominated the women’s game since replacing the retired Ash Barty as number one in April 2022, but she has had to contend with more challengers this year in Australian Open champion Aryna Sabalenka and Wimbledon winner Elena Rybakina.
The trio have been heralded as the “Big Three” of women’s tennis and seven-time men’s Grand Slam champion Mats Wilander believes Swiatek can eventually find her feet on grasscourts just like serial claycourt winner Rafa Nadal did.
“There are different surfaces where they’re going to be better and I think they’ve proved that already,” Wilander told Eurosport earlier this year.
“I think Swiatek is going to be dominating and she’s going to be the Nadal of the (women’s) ‘Big Three’.”
(Reporting by Shrivathsa Sridhar in Bengaluru; Editing by Ken Ferris)
