‘Better than Rafael Nadal, Novak Djokovic, and Serena Williams’ John McEnroe claims that Iga Swiatek has mastered the clay-court movement

‘Better than Rafael Nadal, Novak Djokovic, and Serena Williams’ John McEnroe claims that Iga Swiatek has mastered the clay-court movement

Rafael Nadal, Serena Williams, Iga Swiatek, and Novak Djokovic

Clay is probably the toughest surface to play tennis due to its slow nature. One requires a lot of core strength, racquet skills, and movement to master the art of playing on the red dirt. It is probably the only surface where sideways movement becomes the key. Naturally, players tend to slide to generate more momentum while returning the ball.

There are a very few players who bode well with clay and according to John McEnroe, Iga Swiatek is the latest entry in the list. Talking to Eurosport, McEnroe said that in his years of experience, he has never seen anybody move so well on clay. He realized the claim he is making and stuck to it by saying that Swiatek has better movement that the GOATs themselves- Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal. Now Nadal is the ‘King of Clay’ and saying that Swiatek has better movement on clay than Nadal is a huge compliment for the World No.1.

McEnroe said that Swiatek is an incredible athlete and analyzed her hitting style and movement on clay in comparison to Nadal and Djokovic. “She’s an incredible athlete. I don’t think I have ever seen a player including Nadal and Djokovic that moved and slide into their backhand with an open stance, two-handed and the forehand,” he said.

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‘I’ve never seen someone so smooth on the clay courts’: John McEnroe

Iga Swiatek
Iga Swiatek

The American tennis legend went on to say that the GOAT of women’s tennis, Serena Williams, hits the ball bigger than anyone else but Swiatek has a better movement on clay than anyone he has ever seen. He went on to add that Swiatek has started performing well on hard courts too, which is an added advantage.

“I mean Serena hits a bigger ball but I’ve never seen someone so smooth on the clay courts. She’s so full of confidence. I remember because I do a lot of interviews with journalists and I often talk to Polish journalists and they often ask me about her. I always say wait till she learns to play on hard courts and she is starting to do that. She’s someone who has a mental coach traveling with her and that’s really helped her so hopefully more players do that in the future,” he said.

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