Iga Swiatek claims short grass season has dented her chances at Wimbledon as she dwells on her poor results

With a modest record on grass, Swiatek may not be considered a favorite to win the upcoming Wimbledon Championships.

Iga Swiatek claims short grass season has dented her chances at Wimbledon as she dwells on her poor results

Iga Swiatek (Credits: Eurosport)

Polish tennis sensation Iga Swiatek recently captured her third title at Roland Garros in 4 years, emulating her idol Rafael Nadal’s dominance at the Clay major. She is now the undisputed World No. 1 for the 64th week running. Her triumph at the French Capital further cements her rankings lead over Belarusian Aryna Sabalenka.

Fresh off winning her 4th Major title, while Iga’s record on hardcourts and clay courts is nothing short of exceptional, the same cannot be said about her grass court record. With a modest 6–5 win–loss record on the surface, Swiatek may not be considered a favorite to win the upcoming Wimbledon Championships.

YouTube video

“On grass sometimes it’s tougher and I still have to learn a lot, but I just feel like you’re going to go on court and not play the way you should or the way you could; so, this thing is adding more pressure,” Swiatek said of her performance on grass so far to Arab News post her French Open 2023 triumph.

FS Video

She admits that her victory at the French Open has eased some pressure and that she can now play more freely. “Basically, before every grass-court season I just want to keep being open-minded and just learn a lot,” said Swiatek, whose best result at Wimbledon was a 4th round appearance in 2021. 

Swiatek was dangerously close to losing her no. 1 rank to rival Aryna Sabalenka at the French Open. Had the Belarusian matched Swiatek’s result at the French Open or done better than her, Iga would have lost the ranking to Sabalenka.

Keep Exploring: Emma Raducanu SADLY reveals she sometimes wishes she had not won US Open amid constant media pressure

It will be a short grasscourt season for Iga Swiatek

Q 1687246703
Iga Swiatek (Credits: Sportstar)

It is also worthy of note that the grass court season is unusually short despite its popularity and lasts for around 5 weeks each year. For top players like Iga, this leaves room only for the championships at Wimbledon (a 2 – week event) and a WTA grass tournament (usually one week) to warm up for the major.

“Maybe there’s going to be a chance to play more matches,” she remarked. “But I’m pretty sure that still when I’m going to play these matches, I’m going to feel a little bit uncomfortable. But I also trust that every year I’m going to learn more and more and I’m going to progress anyway. But it’s a short season, only five weeks, so the challenge is tough.”

Iga will reportedly head to Germany next to play in the Bad Homburg WTA tennis event (starting 26th June) and will then head to south-west London for the championships at Wimbledon.

In case you missed it: