Iga Swiatek backed to add Wimbledon trophy to her collection

James Richardson
June 23, 2022

Former French Open runner-up Alex Corretja believes that Iga Swiatek remains the firm favourite to lift the famous women’s singles trophy on Centre Court come 9 July.

Despite a lack of grass court preparation the bookmakers have Swiatek installed as firm favourite as she brings her 35-match winning streak into the Championships.

Corretja concurs with this assessment, saying he sees no reason that Swiatek can’t be at her best on grass.

“On grass, why can she not play well there? I mean, she moves well, she hits hard, she serves well, she’s aggressive,” Corretja told Eurosport.

“Of course, sometimes you can feel maybe from the forehand side she might struggle a little bit, but after she’s been winning so many matches she has got real confidence.

“She will need maybe a few matches to adjust herself, and also it will depend on the opponent she faces. If they give her rhythm, she can have what she’s been missing through the grass court season so far and she’s going to be motivated to keep on going.

“She’s got more confidence than anyone else. But I think she should also go match-by-match and wait to see how she deals with all the movements and all the groundstrokes, which is a little bit different to clay.

“But there is no reason why Iga cannot succeed and do well at Wimbledon, honestly.”

Corretja believes that Swiatek will be playing with freedom at Wimbledon having effectively reached her main goal for the season in winning a second Grand Slam at Roland Garros.

“I think for Iga, the most important moment of the year was Roland-Garros,” Corretja said.

“After she’s been winning so many matches in a row, if you go to Paris and you don’t win the tournament, then you might feel like, ‘okay, I’ve been doing very good, but then in the Grand Slam I’m not winning’.

“That might create some issues in her mind with believing she is going to be capable of doing it. Everything now is clear. It’s already an unbelievable season.”

The Wimbledon draw takes place on Friday 24 June. Swiatek has been revealed to be the number one seed in the women’s singles draw.

Iga Swiatek