By Chris Oddo | @TheFanChild | Saturday July 6, 2024
What needs to happen for Iga Swiatek to become a Wimbledon champion? After her 3-6, 6-1, 6-2 loss to Yulia Putintseva on Day 6, the Pole says she knows what she needs to do.
“I know what I need to change, and I’ll do that,” Swiatek told reporters on Saturday night in Wimbledon’s main press room. “But grass season is over, so it’s not like I need to really think about this match in terms of analyzing for next week because basically it’s going to be totally different on clay and hard court.”
Now is not the time to dwell over it. Swiatek has the Olympics looming in Paris, an event that is vitally important to her, and the rest of the hard court season in North America.
When she does revisit her situation on grass, she will have to find a way to do two things. First, fully refresh and recharge her batteries, which is no small task given just how much she invests in her clay-court seasons. Swiatek, a winner of four of the last six Roland-Garros titles, is typically the last woman off the clay in early June, and that puts her at a distinct disadvantage when she steps on the grass.
The fatigue, as they say, is real.
Second, she simply needs to find a way to spend more time on the surface so that she can develop the comfort that she feels on clay and hard courts.
Lessons learned 👏🏼 @iga_swiatek
We’ll see you soon, champ 🫶#Wimbledon pic.twitter.com/En0WsMbAdJ
— TENNIS (@Tennis) July 6, 2024
It’s mental for Swiatek, more than it is technical or tactical.
“I feel like on grass I need a little bit more of that energy to keep being patient and accept some mistakes,” she told the press. “Like mentally, I didn’t really do that well in this tournament. I need to recover better after clay court season, both physically and mentally.”
It’s not that Swiatek isn’t equipped or talented enough to win on grass, she just has to figure out how to make the transition and get into that deep focus that characterises her success on the clay.
“For me going from this kind of tennis where I felt like I’m playing the best tennis in my life to another surface where I kind of struggle a little bit more, it’s not easy,” she said, adding: “I lost in the third round. I felt like I underachieved a little bit. But it’s tennis, so you have to move on. I’ll have many more chances this year to show my game. I’ll just focus on that.” Grass continues to be a problem for the five-time major champion, and Wimbledon continues to be a major hurdle as she attempts to expand her Grand Slam empire. Sure, she’d like to win the coveted career Grand Slam – winning all four of the majors at least once – and she has plenty of time to achieve those goals. She also has more than enough talent. She simply will have to invest a little more time making sure that she’s in the right head space, and the right comfort zone, the next time she steps on the grass. It’s the same challenge that King of Clay Rafael Nadal had to face each and every time he won Roland-Garros. Grass was not natural to him. The calendar was tight, but he found a way to get it done at Wimbledon. Iga isn’t Rafa, but she can use the Spaniard for inspiration on the grass, just as she does on the clay.
Bear in mind that Swiatek is only 23, and her success on the clay has caused her to face some tricky obstacles when it comes to playing on grass. In time, she’ll likely get it sorted, and become a far more reliable force on the grass than she is now.
There’s no need to panic. She’s a five-time major champion and she just turned 23. If she hasn’t won Wimbledon in five years, then we can sound a few alarm bells. For now, it’s back to Paris and the quest for gold.
