Iga Swiatek is hoping to pull a Rafael Nadal and also figure out a way to win grass despite being a clay-court specialist.
When Nadal was 18 in 2005, he started doing already major things on clay - most notably winning his first Grand Slam title at the French Open.
At the start of Nadal's career, it was evident that clay was Nadal's top surface and that he needed to figure out a way to also win on other surfaces.
Nadal captured his first Wimbledon title in 2008, while his first Australian Open and US Open wins came in 2009 and 2010, respectively.
When it comes to 21-year-old Swiatek, she lifted her first Grand Slam title at the 2020 French Open and she also lifted her first hard-court Grand Slam title at the 2022 US Open.
Swiatek has figured out how to dominate on clay and hard but she hasn't had much success on grass so far in her career.
Swiatek aims to replicate Nadal and figure out how to win on grass"I think if we want to be the best in tennis, you have to play well on all these surfaces. I'm lucky enough to have the grass court season only for three weeks, but I'm still getting it. I know it's an important part of the tour and I should be better at it. For sure I feel like, yeah, you should be good on all surfaces. As you could see, Rafa, he's called clay court specialist, but he won so many tournaments on hard court and grass as well. The goal is to be good everywhere. Yeah, for sure there are always going to be players who feel more comfortable on clay or on hard court, so it's just a matter of - I don't know - the technique and being used to it. Yes, it's tricky. I don't know. I think, I think, I think it kind of leans more to, like, implying that the player only can play on clay. I guess having more variety is nice. But just saying the player feels more comfortable on clay, I think that's the most proper kind of thing to say," Swiatek said, via Sportskeeda.
Last year, Swiatek's run of 37 consecutive wins came to an end after the Pole shockingly lost to Alize Cornet in the Wimbledon third round.
from Tennis World USA https://ift.tt/xyDEjS1
Tennis