Photo: Collected
Iga Swiatek will be desperate to make a major impact on her weakest surface at Wimbledon after a stellar clay court season underlined her dominance of the women's game. But the Polish world number one faces a tough challenge on the grass at the All England Club from a powerful contingent including Coco Gauff, Aryna Sabalenka and Elena Rybakina. AFP Sport looks at three talking points at Wimbledon 2024. Can Swiatek conquer grass?
World number one Iga Swiatek won her third straight French Open title earlier this month and her fourth in five years at Roland Garros. The 23-year-old, who also picked up clay-court titles in Madrid and Rome, is unbeaten in 19 matches ahead of Wimbledon, which starts on July 1.
Swiatek, who has won five trophies already this year, has not played a warm-up tournament on grass, opting to withdraw from the Berlin event in order to rest. Last year's quarter-final appearance, when she lost to Elina Svitolina, was her best showing so far at Wimbledon and she does not boast the grass-court pedigree of some of her main rivals.
But Swiatek, who won the US Open in 2022, is justifiably tipped to go far at this year's Wimbledon, where she won the junior title in 2018. Speaking after her recent French Open win, she admitted the switch from clay to grass was challenging.
"The balls are different," she said. "Overall tennis is different on grass. I'll just see and I'll work hard to play better there."
But regardless of the difficulty in changing surfaces, surely it is only a matter of time before Swiatek finds the magic formula.
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