By Chris Oddo | @TheFanChild | Tuesday June 25, 2024
As Wimbledon approaches Iga Swiatek will look to expand her Grand Slam empire to the hallowed lawns of the All England Club. The World No.1, now a five-time major champion, will have her hands full, however.
With a game seemingly built for the red clay, Swiatek must now commence a Grand Slam journey with no competitive matches on grass under her belt, while being just three weeks removed from a taxing romp through the clay that saw her play events in Stuttgart, Madrid, Rome and Roland-Garros.
Add to that the fact that the Pole has never been beyond the quarterfinals at Wimbledon, and you can see why the task ahead is so daunting.
“She played a lot of tournaments. I know she talked about how exhausted she was,” 18-time major champion Chris Evert said in a conference call to promote ESPN’s coverage of the Championships on Tuesday.
Seven-time Roland-Garros champion Evert, who won Wimbledon three times during her storied career, knows better than any woman the perils of playing Wimbledon after a taxing grind in Paris.
“There’s a letdown when you win the French Open, when you win a major,” she said. “There’s a real letdown. There’s wear and tear on the body. You’re exhausted.”
Adding complexity to this year’s equation is the fact that Swiatek and many others will head back to the clay this summer to prepare for the Paris Olympic Games. Maybe there is a danger that some players – Swiatek included – might not fully immerse themselves in the quest for grass success as they would have in other, less busy seasons.
“In the back of her mind, she’s probably thinking about the Olympics,” Evert said. “I wonder where her head is right now as far as Wimbledon.”
Even without the Olympics looming, Wimbledon would be a challenge for Swiatek because on grass she gives up some of the competitive advantage that she enjoys on her beloved clay.
Evert believes that grass is challenging in many ways for Swiatek.
“It certainly is the most challenging of all the majors [for her] because of several things,” she said. “Her sweet spot again is shoulder high where she hits her winners. Right now the grass courts bounce a little bit lower. She has to hit the ball between the ankle and the waist. With that western grip, it’s really hard to get underneath the ball and to get some shape on it.
“She doesn’t win a lot of free points with her serve, and that is going to hurt her as well. The beauty of her game was the way she was sliding on the clay, then the way she got back into point, back into the court so well. That’s going to be hard to do also on grass.”
Evert believes that the field will have more confidence that they can defeat Swiatek, who owns a 9-4 lifetime record at Wimbledon, compared to 35-2 lifetime on the Parisian clay, on the grass.
“I just think grass is an equalizer for her,” she says. “The other players, like Aryna Sabalenka, Elena Rybakina, Coco Gauff, they’re going to feel like she doesn’t have a lot of confidence, she’s never done better than the quarterfinals.”
Then again, there is a certain confidence that comes with being a five-time major champion, and Swiatek made significant improvements to her grass-court game in 2023, a season that saw here reel off a career-best winning streak of seven on the surface before she fell to Elina Svitolina in the quarterfinals at Wimbledon.
Just because Evert knows of the challenges that Swiatek will face this year on the grass, it doesn't mean the American legend can't picture Swiatek raising the Venus Rosewater dish on Saturday July 12.
“There’s nobody stronger than her mentally,” Evert said of Swiatek. “She has a great return of serve. I think she can win Wimbledon. I think she can. People that count her out this year are silly.”
A tactical shift?
Speaking on the same ESPN conference call, Patrick McEnroe stated his belief that Swiatek’s unwillingness to adjust tactics against big hitters has led to her downfall. He thinks she should take a page from Novak Djokovic’s playbook and use her world-class movement and racquet skills to debunk her attackers.
“When she is aggressive and she’s on, she’s pretty much unbeatable,” McEnroe said. “If someone can out-hit her, it’s almost like she wants to out-hit them even more. That’s where she gets into problems.
“I think she should watch Novak Djokovic, for example, on grass. Djokovic can play offensive if he needs to and if he wants to. He can also sit back and play a little bit more of a defensive game, using his speed.
“If she actually took a step back and played a little more percentage tennis, used her speed and her guile, she could win matches and win majors like Wimbledon or the Australian Open by doing that.”