Iga Swiatek, who suffered a surprising defeat in the third round at Wimbledon, attributed her loss to insufficient rest time between the French Open and the grass-court Grand Slam. She mentioned that her extended clay swing made her too tired to prepare for Wimbledon, which seemed to be a direct shot at the scheduling of tournaments by the ITF and the WTA Tour.
Setting the rhythm after winning the first set against Yulia Putintseva, Swiatek had a major setback in the second set, going down 1-6. Yulia, on the other hand, brought her A-Game and went on to win the match, producing a tremendous comeback.
Swiatek suggested that she would not ‘make the same mistake next year’ of playing tournaments in the lead up to Wimbledon. However, Swiatek’s comments in the post-match press conference sparked controversy. According to fans, she made a bigger blunder of not acknowledging her opponent’s superior performance, which played a significant role in her defeat.
Many expressed their disappointment on social media as they did not expect a player of Swiatek’s stature to have such a reaction and poor sportsmanship. It has rightly been pointed out that there is nothing wrong in giving credit to your opponent when you don’t play well as it is a mark of respect and humility.
They argued that Putintseva’s superior play and ability to force unforced errors were crucial to the match’s outcome.
Is Swiatek a sore loser? Tennis fans think so on Instagram after the World No.1 blamed exhaustion for getting knocked out at Wimbledon pic.twitter.com/Me4waOgfzl
— Wide World of Tennis (@tennisfan_dkr) July 7, 2024
Putintseva was able to bring Swiatek’s struggle on grass once again to the fore and question her dominance in women’s sport despite being the World No.1 for over 100 weeks now.
Swiatek’s Failures on Grass and Olympics 2024 Chances
Swiatek has historically struggled on grass courts, and her performance at Wimbledon 2024 was in fact, one of her worst so far. In her press conference, she admitted that her game doesn’t transition well to grass and she needs more time to adapt to the surface.
Despite the loss, Swiatek remains positive about her overall performance, focusing on areas where she showed improvement.
The Polish star needs to move on quickly from her Wimbledon exit and focus on the upcoming Olympics 2024 in Paris. Luckily, for Swiatek, she will be back playing on her favorite surface, clay. So she will welcome this sudden transition with open arms and she would be the favorite to win the gold medal at the marquee event at Roland Garros.
In fact, a loss in the third round might give Swiatek more time to reflect and rework her strategy as well as get some much needed rest.
