Lindsay Davenport believes Maja Chwalinska has some clear areas in her game that need improving after her run to the Roland Garros final.
Chwalinska was the world number 114 coming into Roland Garros this year, and had only ever won one Grand Slam main draw match at Wimbledon in 2022.
However, after coming through qualifying, Chwalinska beat the likes of Anna Kalinskaya, Diana Shnaider and Qinwen Zheng in a thrilling run to the Roland Garros final.
Chwalinska fell short against Mirra Andreeva in the final, and former world number one Davenport has told her what she now needs to improve ahead of the grass court season.
Lindsay Davenport tells Maja Chwalinska she needs to improve her serve
Following her run in Paris, there has been a lot of debate around Chwalinska receiving a Wimbledon wildcard, which she would require due to her ranking being too low prior to the cut-off.
In the latest episode of The Big T Podcast, Davenport told Chwalinska to take some weeks off before Wimbledon this year, which the Polish player has already confirmed is her plan.
Maja Chwalinska must surely now be given a Wimbledon wildcard! 🍓
Davenport then highlighted Chwalinska’s serve as something she needs to focus on improving, claiming that the current speeds are too low, which could cause her to struggle on the faster surfaces.
“She definitely needs some time,” said Davenport. “First of all, she needs a little bit of time to reassess things and reset after this tournament.
“Talking a lot about will she get a wildcard for Wimbledon? She very well might, if she was I’m a firm believer that she should take these next few weeks and not go play tournaments. You can show up at Wimbledon, Wimbledon grass is not like the other tournaments.
“But if she goes and races off to the next tournament, that would be a mistake. She should go home, first of all she should get her body better, then you’ve got to get your mind better.
“I mean what she accomplished in this tournament is so incredibly draining and sometimes you don’t realise it. It looked like it hit her today, but sometimes it takes two or three days and you’re still feeling empty. It takes a long time to recover. Top players know that, that’s why they don’t schedule anything the week after majors, they get all their press done and then they go rest.
“She now has a year where she will get into every tournament, this tournament actually gets her into Wimbledon in 2027. So there is like no rush for her to go play, get better and get healthy and get ready to go rock again.
“I don’t know on the fast courts, first serve of the match it was a double fault, but her very first serve, 70mph. So she went out there to play a Grand Slam final and you know, at a certain point, yes her game is about feel and stuff, but you’ve got to keep evolving as a player.
“She’s got to learn maybe a little bit more of a snap on the serve. You definitely want to see that first serve pace go up into the 90s, and even if it’s not going to be 110 like her opponents, but get a little bit better with some of those parts of her game.
“Everything else is so good, but I do think she’ll struggle on the fast courts of let’s say Cincinnati, so let’s see how fast the US Open is this year. A little bit tougher to create when you don’t have any time.”
How many Grand Slams does Mirra Andreeva win in her career? 🏆
Brad Gilbert names three players Maja Chwalinska could take inspiration from
Coco Gauff’s former coach Brad Gilbert also agrees with Davenport about Chwalinska’s serve, and he believes that she could take inspiration from the likes of Justine Henin, Jasmine Paolini and Dominika Cibulkova.
“I do think that they can work on for fast courts, a little more leftiness in her serve,” said Gilbert. “It’s funny, there’s been a few small players that are more power players like Cibulkova, even Paolini plays big.
“So maybe you could work on, if you take a couple of weeks off, flattening out your forehand for the grass, the drop shot might still be effective, but I do think she needs a little more benefit for her serve.
“Maybe pop in a couple of tapes of Justine Henin, she’s a small lady that had a big serve. But make good decisions, if you make bad decisions, you can start losing and lose your confidence quickly.”
Regardless of the potential frailties within her serve, Chwalinska is about to gain huge benefits after her run to the Roland Garros final.
Chwalinska will now climb almost 100 places in the rankings to world number 21, and she has also earned over two times her overall career prize money just at Roland Garros this year.
