The sun is finally out in London, but it seems that it is not a good day for Poland. The giant Hubert Hurkacz, who knocked Roger Federer out in the Swiss genius’ last match at Wimbledon, is writhing in pain in his chair, his knee hurt when he tried to hit a volley during the match against Arthur Fils; he retires and one of the second-tier candidates falls, and his country finally focuses on Iga Swiatek, who before going out on the court meditates under her cap on the Players Lounge —the space reserved for tennis players and their teams— and exhaustively completes the routine: legs, joints and torso in shape, reflex exercises, wrist ready to cut. Everything will be needed by the number one. The grass, a pending subject. To be or not to be. There are the good ones, the very good ones and those who do not understand limits, those who end up responding to an unwritten code in tennis that demands mastery of the three surfaces to be among the chosen ones.
And there she is, earthling by nature, already adapted to cement and now trying to solve the complex hieroglyphics of grass; not another sport, but something very different. There are those who have succeeded, such as Court, Serena, Graf, Evert, Navratilova or King, a whole of them; on the other hand, there are those who slipped and failed to make the cut or unravel the mystery of the All England, fabulous champions such as Hingis, Seles, Venus or Henin, who were just missing one last slice. “Iga is the boss today,” says the latter. “But we also know how difficult it is to win and win again,” says the Belgian, surrendered to a player who has already won 22 titles, four of them majors, and who has ruled unwaveringly since Ashleigh Barty stepped aside two years ago and pointed to her: “I don’t think there is anyone better than her to be number one.”
Swiatek has already surpassed the barrier of 100 weeks at the top (110), but when it comes to approaching Wimbledon she has not had any luck. At 23 years old, the idea prevails that sooner rather than later she will get the trophy that currently resists her, but so far she has not managed to overcome the barrier of the quarterfinals that she signed last year. “It is a matter of time before she wins here,” admits the British Johanna Konta, retired in 2021 and now a commentator; “if she does not do it this year, it will be the next one or two years after, but she is too good and she will end up giving herself the opportunity.” And she, patient, believes. “Every year I feel more confident on this surface. At first you are not comfortable, but every season I manage to adapt faster,” says the Warsaw native, solvent in her first two interventions this edition, against Sophia Kenin and Petra Martic (6-4 and 6-3).
She knows, however, that beyond the specific maneuvers and extra steps that the green requires when applying the supports, productivity with the serve is essential. Reliable with the serve, Swiatek is aware that London demands an extra with the first hit to corner the rival and be able to take the initiative. “I managed on other surfaces, and I hope on this one too. Here the first [saques] are even more important,” he recalls, while his evolution and methodical development invite us to think that he will also unlock this last box, taking into account that the nature of his game corresponds indisputably to clay, but that he has already managed to acquire the verticality he needed to triumph also on asphalt.
Hingis, Seles, Henin, Venus…
In terms of determination, there seems to be no more determined tennis player these days than her, a discreet, exemplary and rather introspective professional. She is taking refuge these days in the house she has rented near the club, where she has been seen arriving on an electric scooter, with her face covered by a hood. Swiatek is not seen too much, she reviews history and points decisively to the club of the totalswith the desire to close the circle and avoid cases like Hingis, who was unable to compete on the sand after losing two Roland Garros finals (1997 and 1999); Seles, frustrated in the only final she played in London, in 1992 against Graf; Henin, who won 43 titles – the same as Hingis, both ninth in the WTA’s historical ranking – and could not beat Venus (2001) or Amélie Mauresmo (2006) in the double outcome in the British capital; or the eldest Williams, who was defeated in Paris (2002) by her sister and, therefore, did not complete the triangle.
“She doesn’t lack anything, she has everything to win here,” says the Spaniard Paula Badosa, who was ahead of the Czech Linda Fruhvirtova (6-4 and 6-2) in the second round and is paired with Daria Kasatkina in the next round. “She has triumphed on fast courts and clay, and we have already seen that she is a player who moves well everywhere, who has good shots and is very intelligent when serving; she can be solid or she can open the court, so I think it is more a question of time, of her mentally believing it a bit, rather than a question of resources. Maybe she was rejecting the grass a bit, but, honestly, I think Iga can aspire to anything she wants.”
In 2018, the Pole was crowned junior champion at Wimbledon. However, in subsequent experiences, when she had already entered the elite, she found a brake relatively quickly; the following year she fell in her debut, in 2021 she reached the round of 16 and a year later she stayed in the third round; in her last step, she lost to Elena Svitolina. “I have to focus on learning to play well here, not on expectations,” she says, trying to isolate herself from the pressure and knowing that if one tournament offers possibilities it is the English one, since the list of winners includes seven different winners in the last seven editions. She wants, she emphasizes, to follow in the footsteps of Steffi Graf: “If I could choose, I would go to dinner with her to share experiences.” And the German, 22, is not a bad team. majorsseven of them in London. Maximum intensity both, they say they are similar. The one from Mannheim rounded off her work and now Swiatek, convinced, is going all out for it. She lacks neither tools nor hunger.
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