Iga Swiatek Brushess Off WTA Inconsistency Claims as Top Seeds Tumble at Wimbledon

Iga Swiatek has never progressed beyond the quarterfinals of Wimbledon, where last year, she fell in the third round.

Iga Swiatek Brushess Off WTA Inconsistency Claims as Top Seeds Tumble at Wimbledon

Iga Swiatek (Image via X/Jimmie48 Photography)

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Iga Swiatek has dismissed the claims that players on the WTA tour don’t produce consistent performances. Her answer came amid the shocking early-round exits of the top seeds at the ongoing Wimbledon.

Swiatek, after knocking out Polina Kudermetova, survived a scare in the second round. She came from a set down to register a 5-7, 6-2, 6-1 win over American Caty McNally, improving her head-to-head record to 2-0.

Now a tough challenge awaits her in the third round. Last year in round three here, the Pole lost to Kazakhstan’s Yulia Putintseva; this time, she will be up against Danielle Collins, who had defeated her in the third round of this year’s Italian Open, denying Swiatek the chance to defend her title.

Swiatek is one of the five top-seeded players still alive in the tournament. Coco Gauff, Jessica Pegula, Qinwen Zheng, and Paula Badosa crashed out in the first round itself. Jasmine Paolini joined them when she lost her second-round match. Swiatek during the press conference implied that this tumbling of seeds happens on grass but on hard courts, she, along with Gauff and World No.1 Aryna Sabalenka are quite consistent.

Also, I remember you guys asking me questions why there’s no consistency on the WTA. I don’t feel that. Me and Aryna and Coco have been winning a lot. Sometimes we lose early because the schedule is pretty crazy. You can’t win everything. I feel like on grass there are many upsets every year. It’s a surface we shouldn’t really…I don’t know.

On the ATP side too, top seeds are struggling to make deep runs. Alexander Zverev, Jack Draper, Lorenzo Musetti, Holger Rune, and Daniil Medvedev are no longer playing in the tournament. Adapting on the grass after the clay swing is considered the major reason behind the shock upsets of the top players at Wimbledon.

Iga Swiatek lauds compatriot Kamil Majchrzak after he reached the third round of Wimbledon

At one end, top seeds are struggling to make deep runs at Wimbledon. This means lower-ranked players like Kamil Majchrzak are getting chances to produce good results in the grass-court Major.

Iga Swiatek (2)
Iga Swiatek (Image via X/iga archive)

Majchrzak received praise from compatriot Iga Swiatek after he booked a spot in the third round for the first time at Wimbledon. A journalist asked her at the press conference after her second-round win how well she knows Majchrzak. Swiatek lauded him for his qualities and also said she sometimes trains with him.

He has always been like super nice guy and really humble and hardworking. So he deserves, you know, all the best, and for sure, he was like, coming up and…obviously he had some, you know, he had a case, so, I can also like, relate to that.

The “case” that Swiatek talked about was their doping scandals. In 2023, the International Tennis Integrity Agency (ITIA) handed him a suspension of 13 months after he tested positive for a banned substance during three tournaments in 2022.

Last year, Swiatek failed the drug test as the banned drug trimetazidine contaminated a melatonin medicine she was taking due to sleep issues. She was successful in finding the source of contamination within the deadline and was handed only a one-month ban.

But perhaps the doping case was the reason why the five-time Grand Slam champion struggled to play consistent tennis. Since lifting her fourth Roland Garros title last year, Swiatek reached a singles final just once- at the Bad Homburg Open, the tournament she played before arriving in London for Wimbledon.

Her inconsistent performances also affected her rankings as she dropped to the eighth position but currently occupies the fourth spot thanks to her Bad Homburg run. Swiatek has never reached the Wimbledon final and produced her best when she played in the quarterfinals in 2023.

Also read: Novak Djokovic Points to ‘Fluffier’ Balls as the Key Reason Behind Slowness in Wimbledon Matches