Swiatek, 24, became known as the ‘Queen of Clay’ after winning four French Open titles in five years, while her two-year reign as the world number one – ended by Aryna Sabalenka last year – was underpinned by consistent success on the hard courts.
Grass was the outlier. But the narrative that Swiatek cannot play on the surface – despite having won a junior Wimbledon title in 2018 – has now been smashed after she reached the SW19 final.
“I’m not going to say I wouldn’t believe [I could reach the Wimbledon final] because I kind of believe and I know in tennis a lot can happen,” Swiatek said. “But I guess I would have thought I would need to do a lot to be in this place and learn a lot.” So how has Poland’s Swiatek discovered herself on the Wimbledon grass?
Finding More Peace
What makes the run even more surprising is Swiatek has been nowhere near her dominant best over the past year. She did not reach a final for a year after her 2024 French Open triumph, slipping to eighth in the world – her lowest ranking since March 2022 – as a result.
There were a mixture of reasons – on and off the court – as to why Swiatek’s level has dipped. Losing in the Olympics semi-finals in Paris last summer was a bitter blow, with Swiatek saying she cried for “six hours” afterwards. In November came a bigger bombshell – Swiatek had failed a doping test.
It was announced she had tested positive for heart medication trimetazidine (TMZ) in an out-of-competition sample. She was subsequently given a one-month ban after the International Tennis Integrity Agency (ITIA) accepted the result was caused by contamination. In May, Swiatek told BBC Sport how it was difficult to “accept” having her life turned “upside down”, saying she was still looking for “a peaceful time”.
Former world number nine Andrea Petkovic, now regarded as one of the most astute current analysts, saw a “new freshness” when Swiatek played her first grass-court event at Bad Homburg. “For most of this year you could sense pressure and tension when she stepped on court. In Bad Homburg you could see that was gone,” the German told BBC Sport. “She is always going to be a player who is intense on court but there was just a bit more ease and seamlessness about her. “Right away, I made a hot call before Wimbledon saying she is going to win it.”
More Time To Prepare On Grass
Before this year, Swiatek had only moved into the second week of Wimbledon once, when she reached the 2023 quarter-finals.
After a shock third-round defeat by Yulia Putintseva last year, Swiatek said she had not given herself enough time to mentally recover from her French Open win.
This year, having lost to Sabalenka in the Roland Garros semi-finals, she went to Mallorca for a week’s training on grass before returning to competitive action in Bad Homburg.
Swiatek reached the final at the WTA 500 event, where a defeat by Jessica Pegula left her in tears, but it was an indication that her level on the surface had improved.
“I feel like I have developed as a player and I had time to practise a little bit more [this year],” said Swiatek.
“I would say we mainly focused on my movement and how I should stop before hitting the ball.
“Also, [we worked] on fast hands because obviously it’s important here not to stop the movement, even though the ball sometimes is fast.”