Polish favorite at Wimbledon – Swiatek on Barty’s footsteps – just twice as fast – Sport

Season dominator Iga Swiatek has a meager grass record. But the Pole knows how to win Wimbledon.

She is currently the big dominator in women’s tennis: Iga Swiatek. The Pole can look back on a 35-game winning streak and has won the WTA 1000 tournaments in Doha, Indian Wells, Miami and Rome as well as the French Open in Paris during this time.

It is not yet possible to estimate how the 21-year-old high-flyer will be in shape. Because after her triumph in Roland Garros, Swiatek skipped the preparatory tournaments for Wimbledon due to a shoulder injury. But it could also have been a precautionary measure after the intense past few months.

Only 7 matches won on grass in the pros

All eyes will still be on Swiatek at Wimbledon. The draw meant well for her. The 1st round against the 25-year-old qualifier Jana Fett (WTA 252) from Croatia (on Tuesday at 2:30 p.m. on Center Court) indicates an easy start to the tournament according to the paper form. In the quarterfinals, the two-time major champion could be challenged by world No. 9 Jessica Pegula of the USA.

Legend:

Breed training instead of Matchs

Iga Swiatek during a session at Wimbledon on Tuesday.

Imago/Shutterstock/Javier Garcia

Anyone who can look back on such a winning streak as Swiatek is automatically one of the top favourites. The world number 1 has all the playful qualities to sweep her opponents off the court on Church Road (see the assessment of SRF tennis commentator Stephan Liniger in the video above). Mentally, the two-time Paris winner is one of the best anyway.

Nevertheless: on the WTA tour, no love affair between Swiatek and the grass pitches has developed or been able to develop. Since her debut in 2019, Swiatek has competed in just 5 grass tournaments – two in 2021 and three in 2019. Their match record is rather meager with seven wins and five losses. At Wimbledon she failed in the first round (2019; against Viktorija Golubic) and in the round of 16 (2021; against Ons Jabeur).

In the footsteps of Ashleigh Barty

Nevertheless, Swiatek knows how to win Wimbledon. In 2018, the then 17-year-old played her way into the final of the junior tournament with 5 wins, where she didn’t give the Swiss Leonie Küng a chance with 6: 4, 6: 2.

And so in the next two weeks in London, Swiatek has the chance to become only the second woman in the new millennium to also win the professional title after the junior title. Her predecessor is the recently retired Ashleigh Barty. The former world number 1 from Australia triumphed in 2011 at the juniors and ten years later crowned her professional career with the second of a total of three Grand Slam titles.

Swiatek could do the same feat in less than half the time.