Lindsay Davenport has emerged to laud Iga Swiatek for the tweak she’s made at Wimbledon this year.
After all, returning to the All-England Club, everyone knew something had to change.
Despite being a junior champion at this event, the grass had inexplicably not been working for her, routinely failing to translate her form from a French Open title, usually, to this new surface.
And yet, the one year where she exited early in Paris is the one where she has recorded her best-ever run at Wimbledon, now handed a fine opportunity to reach the final too.
In Davenport’s eyes, the bulk of this success can be attributed to one key alteration.
Lindsay Davenport left stunned by Iga Swiatek change
Speaking on Tennis Channel Live, the panel was asked to explain Iga Swiatek’s sudden surge towards the latter stages of Wimbledon.
Davenport led the praise, offering one potential reason for this upturn in form.
She admitted: “It’s interesting, because I actually thought she was going to go into Wimbledon really down, based on not winning Roland Garros again. Maybe those couple of extra days help settle her down, maybe the post-winning a major, where there is a lot of media that goes into play and a couple more days.
“I’m not really sure because, down to number eight, started to play better grass-court tennis in Bad Homberg, got all the way to the final, lost to Pegula, but at least came into this tournament with those wins under her belt.
“She’s liked her draw here, but honestly, she’s been more aggressive this year than we’ve ever seen her be at Wimbledon. Something has clicked and maybe that was her coach Wim kind of encouraging her, Hey, if you’re gonna go down, you gotta go down swinging and trying to take balls early. You can’t keep playing the same way on the surface and expect things to change.”
Swiatek captured a new record in reaching the semi-finals, and could extend that with another win to reach the final.
Iga Swiatek has transformed her relationship with the grass
Realistically, a player of Swiatek’s calibre should always have the capabilities to perform on any surface.
Her relentless running and bruising hitting would trouble most on grass, hard or clay courts, and yet the former has always been the one that got away.
If anything, this year’s Wimbledon run only reinforces the suggestion that the only thing holding her back was her own mindset.
Speaking after one win, she admitted: “Honestly, it is much more fun [on the grass] this year.
”The ball is listening to me. When it listens to me, I don’t need to do much. It is pretty smooth.”
It really feels like since then, Swiatek actually believes in herself not just to perform on this surface, but to genuinely challenge for the Wimbledon title.
