Ex-Polish star ‘wouldn’t say Iga Swiatek plays well on grass’ in controversial remarks on Wimbledon win
Former world No 14 Jerzy Janowicz has offered a harsh assessment of Iga Swiatek’s Wimbledon title run as he claimed his fellow Pole “didn’t have a single test.”
An imperious Swiatek dropped just a single set en route to claiming her maiden Wimbledon crown and sixth Grand Slam title overall.
It was Swiatek’s first career grass-court title and followed her runner-up result at the WTA 500 event in Bad Homburg the week before Wimbledon.
The highest-ranked player Swiatek faced at Wimbledon was Amanda Anisimova, who was the world No 12 at the time.
The 24-year-old destroyed Anisimova in less than an hour to claim the first-ever 6-0, 6-0 victory in a Wimbledon final.
In an interview with Polish outlet Super Express, Janowicz — who reached the Wimbledon semi-finals in 2013 — questioned Swiatek’s grass-court credentials despite her Wimbledon victory.
“I wouldn’t say Iga plays well on grass, because she didn’t really have a single major test at Wimbledon,” said Janowicz.
“She played against girls who were much weaker at tennis, she didn’t really play against any girls who could give her trouble on grass.
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“These were girls who were really learning grass or who played poorly on grass. The ladder simply opened up for Iga, and Iga took advantage of it brilliantly.
“She didn’t have a single test at Wimbledon this year, so it’s hard to give a blanket assessment. No one could have given her such pure tennis conditions — not just the grass, but pure tennis conditions — to test Iga. One thing we know for sure is that Iga passed the open bracket test perfectly.”
The former Polish star went on to argued that Swiatek’s Wimbledon win will not fix the “problems” he believes she is battling.
“It’s hard for me to predict things from my own eyes, because I don’t follow every single match,” Janowicz added.
“I’d say that even this victory won’t solve Iga’s typical problems, because Iga usually has problems — let’s even call them mental — when there’s resistance from the other side.
“If her opponent offers no resistance and everything goes according to plan, as Iga hopes, then her facial expression or demeanour don’t indicate any problems.
“Problems arise when plan A doesn’t quite work out as she’d like, because there’s resistance from the other side, and that’s when these problems arise. Will this continue? We’ll see at the next tournament.”
Janowicz has competed in Padel since playing his last tennis match in 2022. The 34-year-old was plagued by injuries in the latter years of his career having made his breakthrough by reaching the 2012 Paris Masters final.
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