For Iga Swiatek the upcoming Wimbledon Championships is more about learning how to play on the surface than it is about winning the title.
The world No.1 heads into the Grand Slam as the heavy favourite following her recent dominance on the women’s Tour which has seen her win 35 matches in a row. The joint-longest streak on the WTA Tour this century. Impressively 29 of those wins were achieved in straight sets. This season the Pole has already won six titles, including her second French Open trophy.
Swiatek’s focus now switches to Wimbledon which will begin in two weeks time. She is yet to make a mark at the event after losing in the first round in 2019 and the fourth round in 2021. Although as a junior, she won the girls title four years ago when she defeated Emma Raducanu en route to the title.
“My only thought (heading into Wimbledon) is I want to get ready and learn how to play on grass better and this is the only thing I’m going to be focusing on,” the 21-year-old told Arab News.
“For sure Wimbledon is special but for me the most important thing is to bring a good performance and I still haven’t reached the comfortable feeling on grass, so that’s going to be my only goal.
“I don’t want to think about other stuff because this comes first and with good results and good performances, things are going to come,” she added.
Guiding Swiatek on the Tour will be Tomasz Wiktorowski who knows what it takes to get a player to the final at Wimbledon. Wiktorowski is the former coach of Agnieszka Radwanska and oversaw her run to the 2012 final, as well as the semi-finals in 2013 and 2015.
Preparations for the upcoming tournament hasn’t entirely got to plan with the two-time Grand Slam winner being forced to pull out of the Berlin Open due to discomfort in her shoulder. Although she is set to be fit in time for Wimbledon.
As to what she hopes to achieve next, Swiatek has her sight set on winning more major titles outside of Roland Garros. Besides the French Open, her best result at a Grand Slam was reaching the semi-finals of this year’s Australian Open.
“I don’t know, I’m not going to lie, it’s not like I have everything planned and every goal ready. I always wanted to win every Grand Slam, maybe I’m going to stick to that,” she outlined..
“But I just want to take everything tournament by tournament and we’re going to see. I have my goals off court, like trying to get tennis more popular in Poland and maybe providing some facilities for younger players. I know better what I want to do more than what comes up on Wikipedia after typing my name. But for sure winning all four Grand Slams would be nice.”
Swiatek is bidding to become the first female player to with both the French Open and Wimbledon within the same season since Serena Williams in 2015.
