Former Wimbledon finalist Agnieszka Radwanska does not doubt that fellow Pole Iga Swiatek will win Wimbledon but there are areas of her game she needs to improve first.
The world No.1 crashed out in the third round of this year’s tournaments in three sets to Yulia Putintseva where she lost 12 out of the last 15 games played. After her exit, Swiatek admitted that a lack of rest between the clay and grasscourt swings affected her performance.
However, the 23-year-old has only managed to reach the quarter-finals in one out of five appearances. Overall, she has won just 11 matches at the tournament which is more than three times less than the French Open (35).
“There’s a lot of things that I think she needs to work on playing on grass,” Radwanska said of Swiatek during Wimbledon’s legends media day on Tuesday.
“Obviously she’s a perfect player on clay, but grass is different. I think from moving to playing to see the ball, to react to the ball, everything is different.”
Radwanska says she has not given any advice to Swiatek about playing on the grass but wouldn’t say no if asked. She has reached the quarter-finals or better at Wimbledon on five separate occasions during her playing career, finishing runner-up in 2012 to Serena Williams. Her winning percentage of 77% (43-13) at the grass-court major is better than all of the other three major events she played in.
“I think she needs a little bit more experience on grass and understands a couple of things a little bit better on that surface,” Radwanska continued.
“I believe she will win Wimbledon one day.”
Meanwhile, former British No.1 Johanna Konta has brushed aside concerns about Swiatek’s abilities on the grass by pointing out that she won the girl’s title in 2018. Although she has yet to play a WTA Tour-level final on the surface.
“I think more than anything right now, it’s just in an unfortunate situation where I think, people’s opinions about her game on grass are probably more of an issue than necessarily her game on the actual surface,” Konta commented.
“She’s a junior Wimbledon champion and she’s won five Grand Slams now.
“I think that will eventually and ultimately transfer onto the surface. I think she will be winning Wimbledon at some point.”
Swiatek’s Wimbledon record
2019 – lost in R1 to Viktorija Golubic
2020 – not held
2021 – lost in R4 to Ons Jabeur
2022 – lost in R3 to Alize Cornet
2023 – lost in QF to Elina Svitolina
2024 – lost in R3 to Yulia Putintseva
Overall record – 11 wins against 5 losses
source – ITF
