Iga Swiatek is knocking on the door of one of the most exclusive clubs in tennis.
Since the open era began, only six women have completed the French Open-Wimbledon double. Swiatek, fresh from claiming her second title at Roland Garros, aims to become the seventh.
Should she cross the velvet rope in 13 days’ time, the Polish world No 1 would be in rarefied company, joining Margaret Court, Evonne Goolagong, Billie Jean King, Chris Evert, Martina Navratilova and Steffi Graf in a VIP room that has some of the most exacting entry criteria in all sport.
With only a three-week window available, it takes a special kind of athlete to make the abrupt transition from clay to grass, with all the adjustments of technique and footwork that entails. Swiatek, with her leonine grace and movement, meets that description perfectly.
Nor should the 21-year-old want for confidence, having equalled the best winning run since the turn of the century with her victory over Coco Gauff in Paris. Unbeaten in 35 matches, a sequence that dates back to February and encompasses six successive titles, Swiatek will open her campaign against the Croatian qualifier Jana Fett as the obvious title favourite.
Yet this is only her third Wimbledon, and last year’s run to the fourth round represents her best return so far. Others may see Swiatek as a shoo-in for a second successive slam, but she feels relatively unversed in the art of grass-court tennis, and is relishing the prospect of competing without the pressure of personal expectation.
“Honestly, I still feel like I need to figure out grass,” said Swiatek. “Last year for sure, it was that kind of tournament where I didn’t know what to expect. Then, match by match, I realised maybe I can do more and more.
“Still, this year I only played, like, 10 days on grass, so it’s not a lot. I didn’t have a lot of time to prepare. But I’m just trying to stay open-minded and take positives from the situation and realise that I can play without any expectations.
“I have so much success this season that I don’t have to show everybody that I need to play well on every tournament, because it’s tennis, we have ups and downs. So I try to play without expectations and just see what this tournament brings me.”
Last year, it brought her a three-set defeat to Ons Jabeur, the gifted Tunisian whose bewitching blend of touch and power are tailormade for grass. Jabeur, who was subsequently overpowered by Aryna Sabalenka in the quarter-finals, was on the threshold of her relatively late push into the game’s elite at the time. This time around, the 27-year-old arrives in SW19 as the new world No 2 and a genuine contender for her first major title.
Jabeur was also widely seen as a potential champion in Paris, where she was upset in the opening round by Poland’s Magda Linette. She conceded afterwards that the weight of expectation, following her title win in Madrid and subsequent run to the Rome final – where she was trounced 6-2, 6-2 by Swiatek – was a factor in that setback. Having enjoyed a similarly encouraging build-up to Wimbledon with her victory on the grass courts of Berlin, she is determined not to fall into the same trap.
“Going to the French Open, I really felt that pressure of everybody expecting me to do well,” said Jabeur. “I wasn’t used to that. [I’m usually] just an invisible player going to grand slams, doing well sometimes.”
Jabeur’s success, and her burgeoning profile as a trailblazer for Arab women and African sport, mean her days of going under the radar are over. Her doubles partnership with Serena Williams at Eastbourne, which ended in the semi-finals after she pulled out with a knee injury, has only sharpened her visibility. The withdrawal was merely precautionary, and she is sensibly looking to the future rather than dwelling on what happened in Paris.
“I’m not going to start crying about the past or whatever happened,” said Jabeur, who could face US Open champion Emma Raducanu in the last eight. “For sure it happened for a reason. Maybe I wasn’t prepared enough. Maybe I didn’t do something good enough. But I try to do everything 100%. It didn’t go well for the French Open. Maybe something big is happening here.
“I have a feeling about this one for some reason. Wimbledon has always a special place in my heart.”
Despite her tearful exit against Aliaksandra Sasnovich last year, when she tore a hamstring in the opening round, Williams will no doubt share the latter sentiment. She described her return to a venue where she has won seven titles as “surreal”. Williams had mixed feelings about the decision to allow a limited number of practice sessions on Centre Court this year, but acknowledged the experience was cathartic after the events of last summer.
“It’s amazing,” said Williams, “but on the other hand it’s like, ‘Ah, well, we have to preserve Centre Court.’ Obviously I was super happy to be out there and have that opportunity, and it was also good for me to get that out of my system, because the last moment I had on Centre Court was probably not my best moment.”
With those mental demons laid to rest, can Williams realistically return from a year-long absence to claim the 24th major title she needs to match Margaret Court’s all-time record? In most cases, the answer would be obvious. But the limited evidence offered by the 40-year-old’s performances in Eastbourne would suggest that her serve and return game remain largely undiminished. If she gets up a head of steam, anything remains possible.
Williams opens her challenge against Harmony Tan, a Frenchwoman ranked 115th in the world. She is drawn in the same quarter as Paula Badosa, the fourth seed, whose recent travails were epitomised by a shock defeat to British wildcard Jodie Burrage at Devonshire Park. Karolina Pliskova, another player who has been out of sorts this season, could await in round three, but it is Simona Halep, who defeated Williams in the final three years ago, that may prove the most significant obstacle to the American’s progress.
In resurgent form under William’s former coach Patrick Mouratoglou, the Romanian goes into a tricky opener against the talented Czech Karolina Muchova with semi-final appearances in Birmingham and Bad Homburg under her belt, and a rediscovered zest for the game following the injury problems that left her unable to defend her Wimbledon title last season (after the tournament was not held in 2020 due to the pandemic).
The only cloud on the horizon has been the decision to hand Swiatek the opening slot on Centre Court on the first Tuesday, a role traditionally reserved for the defending champion. With last year’s winner Ashleigh Barty absent following her retirement, many felt Halep should have been handed the honour.
“I feel sad that I missed it because I was injured, so I couldn’t really take the chance,” said Halep, 30, who is seeded 16th. “It would have been very nice to open the tournament. But my chance is gone. Probably in this life I can have another chance, so I will look forward to that.”
The decision to choose Swiatek was influenced by Halep’s withdrawal from Bad Homburg with a neck injury. Regardless of circumstance, however, it is hard to quibble with the choice of the tour’s most dominant player. Barty found herself in an identical position last year, and things didn’t work out too badly for the Australian.
“I know that there has been some discussions about who should open, and I feel really privileged that I’ve been chosen,” said Swiatek. “Hopefully it’s going to be a good show.”