By Shrivathsa Sridhar
LONDON (Reuters) -Iga Swiatek bulldozed her way to a maiden Wimbledon title on Saturday to take her Grand Slam tally to six and although the Pole preferred not to rank her wins, she said her latest one felt a little more special than the others.
The 24-year-old has won four Suzanne Lenglen Cups in the last six editions of the French Open to establish herself as the ‘Queen of Clay’ and conquered the hardcourts of the U.S. Open in 2022, but the grasscourts of Wimbledon have always proved slippery.
Having crossed the quarter-final hurdle for the first time this year, she brutally dismantled Amanda Anisimova 6-0 6-0 in the final to confirm herself as a versatile virtuoso of the women’s game.
“I don’t know. I think the fact that it’s on grass, it makes it more special, I would say, and more unexpected. It feels like the emotions are bigger, because in Roland Garros I know I can play well, and I know I can show it every year,” Swiatek said.
“Here, I wasn’t sure of that. I needed to prove that to myself. I’m not going to rank them, because I just have so much respect for the other tournaments. I worked really hard to win all the other Grand Slams.
“So there’s no point choosing between them. But this one and the U.S. Open feel, I don’t know, better because no one expected that. It wasn’t a relief. It was more of good tennis and working to make it happen without baggage on your shoulders.”
Swiatek reached her first grasscourt final last month at Bad Homburg before her triumphant fortnight at the All England Club and said she was a little surprised with her level on the sport’s fastest surface after the French Open.
“Well, ‘shocked’ would be too big of a word. For sure I was surprised with the consistency,” Swiatek said.
“I knew I can do it before, but I don’t think I ever served so well throughout the whole three weeks even. Bad Homburg was also a good tournament in terms of that. It was always more up and down.
“I was just using the good feelings I had on the court. It felt great. I know in my mind I can be focused. I’m not going to waste points and let them go for free. But my level of tennis helped me to keep that on a constant level.”
While Anisimova appeared to have frozen under pressure, Swiatek said she relied on her experience to get through.
“Finals sometimes are a bit ugly because there’s so much stress. I used the experience from before,” she added.
“Today I just wanted to enjoy the time that I had on Centre Court and enjoy the last hours of me playing well on grass. Who knows if it’s going to happen again. I just focused on that and I really had fun,” she added with a smile.
“Obviously I was stressed, as anybody would be. But I wanted to just do my job, and that’s it.”
(Reporting by Shrivathsa Sridhar in London, editing by Pritha Sarkar)
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