Iga Swiatek admits she is yet to face a test at Wimbledon after surging into the third round of the tournament on Wednesday.
The top seed required exactly 70 minutes on Center court as she charged to a 6-2, 6-0, win over Spain’s Sara Sorribes Tormo. Swiatek’s one-sided triumph saw her win 56 out of 81 points played in the match with 27 of those being from winners. Overall, she has only dropped six games in her first two matches played at the tournament.
“I feel confident. I was able to kind of do everything tactically as I wanted to, as my coach wanted me to do, in the first and second rounds,” said Swiatek.
“I’m going to try to kind of keep it going.”
Swiatek is eager to make up for her shock exit from the All England Club 12 months ago. On that occasion, she reached the third round before falling to Alize Cornet. That defeat also brought to an end her 37-match winning streak on the Tour.
It isn’t just the physical side of her game the four-time Grand Slam winner has been working on, it is the mental side too. A long-time member of her team is sports psychologist Daria Abramowicz.
“I try to keep my mind busy in terms of what I want to do on the court, what my tactics are, what technical stuff I should keep remembering about. It’s a way for me to keep my focus,” she explains.
“I haven’t had any tight situations yet so we’ll see how that’s going to go. For now, I’ve been feeling pretty confident and I kept my focus from the beginning of the matches till the end, so that’s great.”
According to data provided by the International Tennis Federation, since the Billie Jean King Cup in February 2020, Swiatek has won a set 6-0 a staggering 46 times. Historically, only three women have registered more bagels than her on the Tour with Margaret Court being the frontrunner.
“I’m just happy that I can play such a solid game and keep my focus because sometimes it’s pretty hard to lead when you have two breaks up,” she commented when informed about the statistic.
“I always try to play every ball the same way no matter what the score is.”
Swiatek is seeking to become the first Polish woman in history to win Wimbledon. Only twice before has somebody from the country reached the final. Jadwiga Jędrzejowska did so in 1937 and more recently Agnieszka Radwańska in 2012.
