Just a few hours after securing her fourth French Open championship last June, Iga Swiatek was questioned by a journalist regarding the approaching grass court season in Wimbledon, England.
With Wimbledon only weeks ahead, chances for playing preparatory tournaments on grass were limited. Swiatek, however, appeared unbothered.
Swiatek commented pragmatically, “Had I exited Roland Garros sooner, perhaps I could have spent an extra two weeks on grass, improving my play on that surface. But given a choice, I adore playing on clay and would never abandon it.”
Following this, Swiatek decided to forgo all grass events, prioritizing rest and recuperation after an extensive clay court period. Her subsequent appearance at the All England Club resulted in a third-round exit.
However, this year, Swiatek`s journey at her preferred Roland Garros ended prematurely. A semifinal defeat to world No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka dashed her hopes for a fourth straight major title there. This unexpected loss inadvertently granted Swiatek additional preparation time for the grass season.
Her statement from the previous year proved prescient: the extra time on grass enhanced her proficiency on the surface. Yet, even she likely couldn`t have foreseen her level of performance and dominance. Nor could she have anticipated flourishing away from the intense scrutiny and pressure she typically encountered at the French Open.
What was certainly unpredictable was her emergence as the 2025 Wimbledon champion. This became reality on Saturday, culminating an impressive two weeks with an astonishing 6-0, 6-0 win in the final, defeating the 13th seed Amanda Anisimova in under an hour.
Reflecting immediately after clinching the title, Swiatek shared, “Honestly, I hadn`t even dreamt of this; it felt so distant. While I consider myself an experienced player with previous major victories, I genuinely didn`t anticipate this triumph.”
At 24, Swiatek now possesses six Grand Slam titles. She joins an elite group as the eighth woman, and the only active WTA player, to have captured major championships on clay, hard courts, and grass. Her achievement also makes her the youngest woman to complete this feat since Martina Hingis in 2003. Her success on grass appears to have surprised her as much as anyone else.
INTERESTINGLY, SWIATEK`S HIGH POINT during her junior career occurred at Wimbledon, where she claimed the girls` singles title in 2018.
This was her sole junior major title, and her performance during that run was almost flawless. Nevertheless, even the concise summary on the Wimbledon website following her 6-4, 6-2 final victory noted that `clay remains her preferred surface.`
True to form, Swiatek`s early professional achievements were predominantly on clay. She contested her first WTA final on clay and subsequently, as a relatively unknown and unseeded 19-year-old, she astonished the tennis community by winning the French Open title in 2020, a tournament postponed due to the pandemic.
Although many were unfamiliar with Swiatek and her playing style prior to that tournament, her run left a significant impact.
Following her win, seven-time major champion and analyst John McEnroe remarked, “The level she`s currently playing at suggests she could easily win half a dozen major titles. It`s simply incredible.”
While clay remained her dominant surface, she also developed into a formidable hard-court player. She secured her inaugural hard-court title in Adelaide, a 500-level event, only months after her major breakthrough in Paris. In the spring of 2022, she compiled a remarkable 37-match winning streak, capturing titles at Indian Wells, Miami, Stuttgart, Rome, and the French Open. She ascended to the world No. 1 ranking for the first time in April of that year, prompted by Ashleigh Barty`s unexpected retirement.
Her impressive streak concluded in the third round of Wimbledon that year, but she rebounded to win the US Open before the season ended. Swiatek maintained the top spot in the rankings for 75 consecutive weeks.
After her 2023 US Open title defense faltered, she briefly dropped to No. 2, with Sabalenka taking the top position, only to regain the No. 1 ranking eight weeks later. The 2024 season appeared set for similar dominance, as Swiatek secured four of the initial six 1000-level titles and triumphed at the French Open once more.
After losing to Swiatek in the Italian Open final the previous year, Sabalenka commented, “She is the world No. 1, and I believe she excels in every aspect of the game.”
However, following her fifth major championship, her fourth at Roland Garros, Swiatek experienced a relative downturn in form, at least by her own high standards. Despite being the overwhelming favorite for the 2024 Olympics (staged at Roland Garros), Swiatek secured only a bronze medal after a semifinal upset. Subsequently, she was eliminated in the quarterfinals of the US Open. Shortly thereafter, she ended her long-standing partnership with coach Tomasz Wiktorowski and started working with Wim Fissette.
In November, Swiatek received a one-month suspension after testing positive for a prohibited substance. During this period – seemingly an age for a player of her standing – she failed to win another title.
Attention turned to the 2025 French Open, where observers wondered if she could reverse her fortunes. When she did not succeed there, her ranking dropped significantly to World No. 8.
Given her past struggles on grass and at Wimbledon, it appeared improbable that her performance would improve significantly on this surface.
The grass season is the briefest segment of the tennis calendar. For the preceding three years, Swiatek`s French Open victories occurred merely three weeks before Wimbledon commenced, allowing minimal time for grass preparation.
Eighteen-time major champion and analyst Chris Evert commented before Wimbledon, “I believe the most challenging transition is onto grass. You have five weeks of tournaments on red clay, giving you ample time to adapt before the French Open. Wimbledon, however, is particularly difficult, especially for those who perform strongly at Roland Garros.”
Evert cited Coco Gauff as a recent illustration. The winner of the 2025 French Open played only one preparation event in Berlin after a busy media schedule, losing her first match. Subsequently, she suffered a first-round upset at Wimbledon.
Beyond the rapid turnaround, clay and grass courts are fundamentally distinct. Even highly experienced players find the transition between these surfaces challenging.
Evert further explained, “Red clay and grass are polar opposites, demanding significant adjustments. The court itself behaves differently, requiring different positioning. You must shorten your swings and look to approach the net whenever possible. So many aspects differ from clay, necessitating constant adaptation.”
Before this year, Swiatek`s strongest performance at Wimbledon was reaching the quarterfinals in 2023. In her sparse grass tournament participations during that period – competing in only three main draws outside Wimbledon since becoming professional – she reached just one semifinal, also at Bad Homburg in 2023.
However, a single year, tournament, or even match can fundamentally alter circumstances.
Following her early French Open exit, Swiatek stated she was shifting her focus away from points or ranking and would concentrate on grass preparations almost immediately.
Last month, Swiatek remarked, “Hopefully, we can get in a decent, short preseason on grass. That`s always been difficult, particularly when I prefer to be home sometimes. But I don`t feel that need right now, so perhaps I`ll train somewhere in Europe.”
Less than three weeks later, Swiatek returned to competition at Bad Homburg. There, she reached her first grass final, defeating two-time major champion Victoria Azarenka in the round of 16 and securing a 6-1, 6-3 semifinal victory over Jasmine Paolini, the 2024 Wimbledon finalist.
Although she lost the final to Jessica Pegula, she arrived at the All England Club with considerable momentum and, as she shared with reporters the following day, “plenty of confidence.”
However, expectations for Swiatek at Wimbledon were significantly lower than at the French Open, with Sabalenka widely regarded as the favorite. This situation seemed to benefit Swiatek.
While many fellow top players, including World No. 2 Gauff and World No. 3 Pegula, exited early during the tournament`s upset-filled initial rounds, Swiatek maintained composure and appeared to enhance her performance with each match.
On her path to the final, she conceded only one set (to American Caty McNally, her junior French Open doubles partner from 2018). Her powerful serve was a key factor, as she lost merely six service games across her first six matches. She comprehensively defeated Belinda Bencic 6-2, 6-0 in Thursday`s semifinals.
Bencic commented afterwards, “I definitely felt like she was absolutely unstoppable. Naturally, I`ll review the match with my team to analyze what I could have changed, but perhaps I would have needed to play the best tennis of my life and take risks on every shot to overcome her today, given how she performed.”
Throughout the tournament, Swiatek seemed to be enjoying herself. She garnered attention online for her unique pasta-and-strawberries meal combination and her fondness for the official Wimbledon towels. Amusingly, she was seen collecting numerous Wimbledon towels after matches, even playfully gesturing to the camera to keep it a secret when she bagged one after her quarterfinal victory.
On Saturday during the championship match, she delivered her most commanding performance of the tournament. Swiatek secured a break against Anisimova in the very first game, and the outcome rarely seemed in doubt thereafter.
She claimed the first set in just 25 minutes, allowing Anisimova only nine points. This marked only the third time in women`s major finals, and second in the Open Era, that a championship match ended with a 6-0, 6-0 scoreline. The only previous instance at Wimbledon was in 1911.
When questioned by Mary Joe Fernandez after the match about her accomplishment, Swiatek stated she felt unable to fully explain it.
Swiatek commented, “I focused intensely on competing throughout these two weeks. Despite events earlier in the season, I simply put faith in the process and the strategies my coach outlined for grass. My approach on court was quite straightforward.”
“I believe my serve was excellent, and I relied heavily on it. I carried significant confidence into every match, and this incredible result followed. It feels quite surreal and unbelievable. I can`t articulate it fully, but I`m extremely happy and will certainly savor the coming days.”
The total of just 35 games lost by Swiatek throughout the tournament represents the fewest conceded by a women`s Wimbledon champion since Martina Navratilova in 1990.
FOLLOWING AN EMOTIONAL embrace with Anisimova at the net after the match concluded, Swiatek rushed to her player`s box to celebrate with her support team. Despite the final score and the one-sided nature of the contest, Swiatek seemed genuinely disbelieving.
As she stood back on the court before the trophy presentation, she emphatically shook her head upon holding the trophy, gazing back up at her team in the box.
With the addition of the Wimbledon trophy, Swiatek is now only one major title shy of Venus Williams` tally, who holds the most among active WTA players. She is set to rise to No. 3 in the upcoming rankings.
Despite her previous limited impact at Wimbledon, Swiatek managed to secure what is arguably her most unexpected major title, arriving at a potentially surprising juncture in her young career. Even after her victory on Saturday, she refrained from calling herself a grass-court specialist and confessed uncertainty about her expectations heading into the final.
Swiatek told Fernandez, “I primarily aimed to enjoy the moment because, given my prior Wimbledon results, I wasn`t confident I`d have another opportunity. I still felt somewhat like an underdog and truly wanted to absorb every minute on Centre Court, appreciating my achievements in this tournament already, while simultaneously pushing for more and showing bravery.”
She might have been less scrutinized entering the tournament, and even carried slight self-doubt, but this is unlikely to be the case moving forward. Furthermore, she will no longer be underestimated at any future event. Over the past two weeks, she conclusively demonstrated her capability and readiness to adapt and evolve as a player, irrespective of the playing surface. By doing so, she cemented her reputation as a versatile all-surface player and re-established her position among the sport`s elite. Swiatek has now returned to the pinnacle of the tennis world.
Barely five weeks prior, Swiatek departed Roland Garros feeling disappointed and disheartened. She had failed to win the title there. Speculation surrounded her future and her recent dip in title-winning form.
Yet on Saturday, standing on Centre Court under the admiring gaze of over 14,000 spectators and Catherine, the Princess of Wales, she contemplated whether her earlier setback might have been beneficial for her career. Her future trajectory remains uncertain, but on Saturday, everything felt undeniably right for her.
Regarding the remainder of the season, Swiatek stated, “I`m not overly concerned about what happens next. It`s challenging to compare this title to my other Grand Slams, but I simply intend to relish it and the feeling I had on court over the last couple of weeks. Many people, particularly at home, had expressed doubts, which made my work more difficult, considering the expectations and all.”
“Therefore, I hope I`ve demonstrated to everyone that they should just let me concentrate on my work, allow me to focus on myself, and I can deliver excellent performances just like I did today.”
