Tennis news - Iga Swiatek aiming to go under radar and play with freedom at Wimbledon

ByCoral Barry

Updated 27/06/2021 at 20:23 GMT

Iga Swiatek is hoping to play with freedom at Wimbledon after having to manage expectations at the French Open. Swiatek was the defending champion at Roland-Garros, but expects to go under the radar at Wimbledon. "Right now I can play without any expectations and it’s refreshing. It’s something new for me so I like it," she said ahead of her match with Su-Wei Hsieh on Monday/

Iga Swiatek is aiming to play with freedom at Wimbledon after feeling the pressure to perform at the French Open.

The 20-year-old was the defending champion at Roland-Garros, but will be the number seven seed at Wimbledon this week.

Swiatek insists she is feeling the difference ahead of the Grand Slam and thinks she could produce something special at Wimbledon.

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“It is much, much nicer,” Swiatek told Eurosport’s Mats Wilander about heading into Wimbledon without any expectations.

“I’m not the kind of a person who looks at all kind of stuff. Even though there was a huge fuss around places, my own expectations was the problem.

Even though I managed it well, I think being in the quarter-final as a defending champion shows I have consistency. That’s great.

“That was my goal for the season. Right now I can play without any expectations and it’s refreshing. It’s something new for me so I like it.”

Swiatek was the 2018 youth champion at Wimbledon and is in action on day one on Monday against Su-Wei Hsieh.

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The Pole has a win on clay over her opponent, but Hsieh is more experienced on grass.

“It’s going to be tricky, all the slices and low balls,” Swiatek said.

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“I remember when I was playing against here at Roland-Garros, my main goal was to stay low. I don’t think it really matters.

I just hope I’ll enjoy the game and playing. Sometimes it’s hard to implement all the skills on grass, but I’m trying to find my way and it’s good to have the opportunity.

“It’s going to be hard because she’s more experienced on grass but I’m looking forward to that.”

“I just love being. Even though in 2019 I just play one match here, I think it can be different,” she added.

“I know how much progress I’ve done. I’m kind of a smarter player. We’ll see how it goes, but I’m excited.”

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With players pulling out of the Olympics left, right and centre in recent weeks, Swiatek revealed she intends to appear at Tokyo 2020.

Swiatek has even softened her workload to ensure she will be fully fit for the Games, which begin next month in Japan.

“Before Olympic Games we are training down a little bit,” she explained.

I won’t be playing doubles here [at Wimbledon]. I’ll be in the Olympics so that’s exciting.

“At Roland-Garros we thought it may be a good idea to just play singles and save energy for the rest of the season.

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“Basically that’s going to be my goal for the rest of the season, I don’t know how I’m going to go in the tournaments in October.

“It’s weird to think about that now because we’re in the middle of summer. We’re going to see. I wanted to save some energy for sure.”

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