Iga Swiatek 'not rushing' hopes of a Career Grand Slam

September 27, 2023

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Iga Swiatek ‘not rushing’ hopes of a Career Grand Slam

Iga Swiatek has competed in her first match without the world No.1 ranking since April 2022, and the Pole revealed that she is not putting any pressure on herself to achieve a Career Grand Slam.

Swiatek beat Japanese qualifier Mai Hontama, 6-4 7-5, at the WTA 500 event in Tokyo earlier today in an extremely topsy-turvy match that lasted just over two hours.

The 22-year-old is a four-time major winner and was asked by press about ‘when’ she believed she could achieve a Career Grand Slam, when you win at least one Australian Open, Roland Garros, Wimbledon and US Open, which has only been achieved by 10 women in history.

But, Swiatek seemed a bit taken aback by this question and responded while smiling, “Oh my god, when? I don’t think I can answer you specifically. Um, as soon as possible.”

Wimbledon has historically been Swiatek’s weakest major and the WTA No.2 claims she needs ‘a couple of more years’ to adapt her game to the grass.

“Well for sure, I think I need a couple of more years to learn how to play on grass better. So, I’m not rushing it you know,” said Swiatek. “I’m 22, so I still have a lot of time probably, more than like 10 years. So I’m doing my best to win every tournament, every tournament I play at. But yeah, I’m not rushing it because I’ve already won four Slams.”

She added, “What I did since 2020 is crazy, it’s hard for me sometimes to even understand how it happened. Because when I was younger, I didn’t know it was going to be possible for me. So really, I’m taking it easy.”

With the 2023 Grand Slam season over, Swiatek does not need to focus on major tournaments until January next year and will have her full attention on her quarter-final match in the Japanese capital.

This is where Swiatek will play eighth seed Veronika Kudermetova, who she has only lost 10 games in four previous meetings to.

Inside the baseline…

With Swiatek achieving so much already, it is easy to forget that the Pole is still only 22-years-old and she is right to make the Career Slam a more long-term goal. The Australian Open feels more like an inevitability for Swiatek, whereas the main concerns will be around winning Wimbledon. However, she did manage to achieve her best ever performance this year and in due course should be lifting the title at SW19 with her talent.

Iga Swiatek at Grand Slams

With Swiatek speaking about the potential of a Calendar Slam, we at Tennishead have looked back at her performances at all four of the major tournaments:

Overall Grand Slam win-loss record: 68-15 (82%)

Australian Open

Win-loss record: 15-5 (75%)

Best result: Semi-final (2022)

Roland Garros

Win-loss record: 28-2 (93%)

Best result: Won (2020, 2022 & 2023)

Wimbledon

Win-loss record: 9-4 (69%)

Best result: Quarter-final (2023)

US Open

Win-loss record: 16-4 (80%)