In the end, it was all a matter of time for Iga Swiatek at Wimbledon. Time, or rather lack of it.
A defining feature of the Polish world No 1’s dominance has been her ability to take time away from her opponents with her early ball-striking and quicksilver movement. And as she stormed through the opening set against Kazakhstan’s Yulia Putintseva, it seemed very much business as usual. Then, Putintseva found fresh impetus – and Swiatek began to lose control of time.
What followed will go down as the upset of the fortnight. Yet Putintseva’s 3-6, 6-1, 6-2 victory was not entirely unforeseeable. Two months ago, she came within a point of establishing a 5-1 lead against Swiatek in Rome. That was on slow red clay; on the slick grass of Wimbledon’s No 1 Court, where time is at a premium, the fiery and tenacious 29-year-old was always likely to pose a greater threat, particularly after winning her first title on the surface last month in Birmingham.
It was the manner in which Putintseva went about her work that caught the eye. A bundle of scarcely contained energy at the best of times, the world No 35 went into overdrive after going a set down. Her stride became more purposeful. Her tempo quickened, both in the rallies and between them. She regularly delivered her first serve with 17 of the allotted 25 seconds remaining. She also shifted her receiving position, moving back to give herself more time to read and neutralise Swiatek’s much-improved service. It was a change that reaped dividends, Putintseva discomfiting the Pole by drilling deep, powerful returns down the centre of the court à la Novak Djokovic.
The cumulative effect of these adjustments was dramatic. After dictating the rhythm of the contest in the first set, Swiatek found herself constantly rushed. An abiding memory came as the end neared, when she prodded an ungainly backhand skywards after being caught at her feet by a searing return. It was a shot that smacked of helplessness, an unaccustomed feeling for a woman who had lost just four matches all season. Swiatek was quite literally ushered towards the exit.
“Putintseva is just so good at playing quickly, playing the momentum,” said Ashleigh Barty, the former Wimbledon champion turned BBC pundit, early in the final set. “She hasn’t given Iga much time to think about it. She’s playing quickly, playing to her tempo. It’s all happening so quickly. There needs to be a way [Swiatek] can wrestle back the momentum, otherwise she’ll run out of time.”
Which is precisely what happened. After reaching the quarter-finals at the All England Club for the first time last year, Swiatek appeared poised for an even deeper run this time around. She began the tournament with a pair of emphatic wins over Sofia Kenin and Petra Martic, and carried a 21-match winning streak into the third-round. But from the outset, Putintseva, herself unbeaten in seven outings, was a woman in a hurry. Before her opening service game, she glowered impatienly as Swiatek ran across the baseline to place her towels in the courtside boxes. Her mood darkened further in the second set, where she appeared distinctly unimpressed whenever the Pole went to her towel or took a moment to compose herself before settling into her return position. Putintseva denied she was intentionally trying to hassle her opponent.
“I was not rushing on purpose,” she said. “Honestly, I think every time I’m playing my service game, I’m not taking much time. I never go for a towel or anything. I’m just going.”
When Swiatek feels rushed by the server, she tends to raise her racket, signalling that she is not ready – a standard gesture among players, but one the Pole performs more often than most. It is a way of wrestling back time, of gaining precious extra seconds. The 23-year-old has deployed the tactic in the past against Marketa Vondrousova, another player who likes to play her service games at a quick pace. Putintseva was having none of it, however. Forced to restart her service motion on a game point early in the second set, the Kazakh held with a lovely wrong-footing forehand and then cast a death stare down the court. A couple of games later, as she battled off three break points, Putintseva exploded with fury after being delayed on serve, gesticulating wildly first at her coach, Roman Kislianskii, and then at Kader Nouni, the chair umpire. Her anger only intensified her bustle and brio.
Technically, the receiver is required to play at the server’s pace. It is something of a grey area, however: in the right hands, the rule can be weaponised, effectively allowing a player to quick-serve an opponent by putting the ball in play before they are ready. With the two women operating at opposite ends of the time spectrum, Nouni’s reluctance to intervene seemed sensible.
The Frenchman was equally right not to penalise Swiatek when she took an authorised break between the second and third sets. While Putintseva postured theatrically as she awaited the Pole’s return, Swiatek was within the allotted timeframe: five minutes from the moment a player enters the toilet or changing area, not including the time required to get there and back. Swiatek returned to the court roughly seven minutes after departing, so the boos that greeted her reflected an ignorance of the rules. Yet the delay fired up Putintseva still further – another of the countless ways in which time shaped the outcome.
“I was a bit, like, not annoyed, but she took a lot of time off the court,” said the Kazakh. “I don’t know what happened, how many minutes she was taking. Honestly, at some point I was so bored.”
Ensnared in an ever-widening web of force and finesse, Swiatek has rarely looked more harassed than she did down the stretch. Remarkably, Putintseva won 18 of the first 21 points in the decider. It was quite the turnaround: Swiatek is normally the one harrying opponents into submission. But grass, where the ball skids through fast and low, complicates matters. With less time to set up her shots, particularly the buggy-whip forehand so central to her success on other surfaces, Swiatek’s ability to take the ball on the rise and force the play with the strength and accuracy of her ball-striking is compromised. At the same time, the unpredictable footing makes it tougher to move, diminishing the advantage afforded by her peerless athleticism and defensive prowess. Putintseva used a combination of power and panache to exploit those vulnerabilities
Nor should the cumulative toll of an exhausting clay-court campaign be overlooked. Swiatek’s French Open victory last month, her fourth in five years, marked the culmination of a run that included a first title in Madrid and a third Italian Open crown, a sequence of 19 matches in 45 days. As Swiatek acknowledged, the quick transition from Parisian clay to English grass, a turnaround of just 23 days, left her short on rest and preparation; again, a lack of time played its part.
“My tank of really pushing myself to the limits became suddenly empty,” Swiatek reflected. “I was kind of surprised. But I know what I did wrong after Roland Garros. I didn’t really rest properly. I’m not going to make this mistake again. After such a tough clay court season, I really must have my recovery.
“I thought that I’m going to be able to play at the same level, but I feel like on grass I need a little bit more of that energy to be patient and accept some mistakes. Mentally, I didn’t really do that well in this tournament. I need to recover better after the clay court season, both physically and mentally.”