“She looks like she’s coming to terms with grass” – Swiatek a solid pick for breakout Wimbledon

Iga Swiatek has lagged behind on the grass – and at Wimbledon – for the last few seasons, but our Match Points panel thinks her time is coming on the grass.

Iga Swiatek, Wimbledon 2023 – © Action Plus / Panoramic

Chris Oddo

July 2, 2023

Iga Swiatek is a world No 1 and four-time major champion, but at the All England Club in London she is very much a work in progress. In three previous main draw appearances Swiatek has only managed one round of 16 appearance, making Wimbledon the only Grand Slam in which she has yet to play a quarter-final.

Will the Polish juggernaut take to the hallowed Wimbledon grass and change that trend this year?

On Match Points #47, former Wimbledon champion Marion Bartoli and journalist Simon Cambers weigh in.

Developing rapport with the grass

Bartoli believes Swiatek will have a big success this year at Wimbledon.

“She looks to me a lot more comfortable than the previous years on grass,” she said, adding: “I think last year she just arrived. Completely exhausted at Wimbledon. She just had so many matches. She won the Sunshine Double. She won everything on clay. And she was just absolutely exhausted.

“I think this year, obviously she didn’t have that much success before Roland-Garros, and that led her to have slightly less matches under her belt, but that way she was able to have a build-up tournament.”

Cambers agrees, saying that Swiatek just needs time to find her patters on the surface.

“She looks like she’s coming to terms with grass,” Cambers said. “And the whole thing with Iga is, she’s so smart, so intelligent that she really has to understand exactly how to play on a surface before she can do it – she’s one of those people that needs to know what she’s trying to do before she does it. She’s not instinctive in the sense that she’ll just get on there and play. She needs to have a game plan and she needs to feel comfortable.”

The forehand is adjusting and the footwork is better

Nobody on the WTA Tour embraces a challenge like Swiatek and the Pole is in the process of elevating her game for the grass. Playing a warm-up tournament at Bad Homburg – and winning three matches – will do wonder for her confidence. Not only that, it has given Swiatek time to iron out some tactical nuances.

“I think the forehand is going more through the court, she’s not as disturbed as the previous year when you were hitting fast to her forehand and she was really struggling,” Bartoli said. “I can see a little bit more technical adaptation on that forehand as well. And you can see just someone being so confident. She’s very settled, there is not that much doubt going through her mind.

Quarter-finals? How about winning the title?

Bartoli is a believer in Swiatek’s chances this year at SW19.

“If she can play her best tennis I feel for the first time she can absolutely get to the quarterfinals, but I put her in probably top three or top four to actually win the title.”

Cambers feels similarly about the 22-year-old’s Wimbledon hopes.

“It’s about how she feels with the feet on the grass, just getting used to that feeling of moving on a grass court which is different to every other surface,” he says. “So if by playing this warm up tournament and doing well, she is beginning to do that then I think she’s in a very good place to translate that success.

“I’d be very surprised not to see her in the quarterfinals this time.”