Iga Swiatek says she is entering this year’s grass season with an open mind as the Pole admits there are still things she needs to learn and figure out about playing on the fastest tennis surface. Swiatek, a four-time Grand Slam champion, has 14 titles in her collection but she has never made it past the round-of-16 at a grass-court tournament.
Last year, Swiatek only competed at Wimbledon during the grass season – her streak of 37 consecutive wins came to an with a shock Wimbledon third-round loss to Alize Cornet. “Basically before every grass-court season I just want to keep being open-minded and just learn a lot.
I feel like there is maybe a little bit less pressure, but on the other hand when I just go on court, I feel like I know how I can play tennis and I know how I can play on other surfaces. On grass sometimes it’s tougher and I still have to learn a lot, but I just feel like you’re going to go on court and not play the way you should or the way you could; so this thing is adding more pressure.
But I would say that the pressure from the outside, yes it’s maybe a little bit less, it depends on you guys and what questions you ask,” Swiiatek said, via Arab News.
Swiatek starts her grass season in Bad Homburg
Next week, Swiatek is scheduled to compete at a WTA 250 event in Bad Homburg.
On the Bad Homburg entry list, Swiatek is the only top-10 player. In Bad Homburg, Swiatek would certainly like to get a few wins under her belt and lift her confidence levels on grass ahead of Wimbledon. However, Swiatek admits she may feel uncomfortable at times on the grass this year.
“Maybe there’s going to be a chance to play more matches. But I’m pretty sure that still when I’m going to play these matches, I’m going to feel a little bit uncomfortable. But I also trust that every year I’m going to learn more and more and I’m going to progress anyway. But it’s a short season, only three weeks, so the challenge is tough,” Swiatek said.
