Iga Swiatek says she was caught off guard by Elina Svitolina’s game after suffering a three sets loss at Wimbledon.
The world No.1 described the playing style of her opponent as different to the one she encountered when they last clashed on the Tour in 2021. Swiatek was seeking to win her fifth major tournament at Wimbledon this year but until now she hadn’t reached the quarter-final stage. Last year she crashed out in the third round to Alize Cornet which at the time ended her run of winning 37 consecutive matches.
Despite recording her best-ever run at the event, Swiatek admitted she is frustrated about her latest performance and said she was unable to play at her very best. When asked to pinpoint what exactly went wrong for her, the Pole was unable to provide an answer immediately after the match.
“It wasn’t as good as in previous matches,” Swiatek said of her level.
“I didn’t feel today like I could play my best game but I gave my all in everything that I could do today.’
“My forehand wasn’t the best. I’ll still have to work on it. But honestly, it’s hard for me to point out one thing that failed exactly.”
Although the defeat wasn’t solely due to Swiatek’s ability, it was also down to some sublime play from Svitolina who produced a level of tennis similar to what she did when she was ranked third in the world. The Ukrainian fired 25 winners and won 82% of her first service points.
“I felt like she’s playing differently than when we played on clay a couple of years back,” she commented.
“I made some mistakes that I shouldn’t have made. That’s why I lost. But she also put pressure on me.”
Elaborating further, the Pole said her opponent was more aggressive on the court than before. Svitolina only returned to the Tour three months ago following the birth of her first child. Since then she has won a WTA title on clay in Strasburg and reached the last eight of the French Open before her grass season.
“She played with more freedom and more guts. Sometimes she really just let go of her hand and she played really, really fast,” Swiatek analyzed.
“We practiced (together) in Australia. I didn’t remember that she was changing rhythm so much in terms of playing these faster shots sometimes.’
“I get why she’s doing that. It makes sense. You have to have guts if you want to win these matches.”
The question is how did a change to Svitolina’s game style come about?
The answer is Raemon Sluiter who was appointed as coach to the 28-year-old earlier this year. He is a former player himself who has also worked with Kiki Bertens in the past.
“I changed a few things with my racquet and with my strings,” Svitolina said during her press conference.
“With Raemon, even before I started to play tournaments, we were talking a lot about the game style and the game style of different players. We had I think three and a half or maybe four months, to work on a few things.”
Swiatek’s Wimbledon record now stands at nine wins against four losses.
