Iga Swiatek was swept out of Wimbledon in the third round, but her post-match comments should have sounded more like Djokovic.
Iga Swiatek just cannot seem to be as great at Wimbledon as she can seemingly everywhere else. She is the top-ranked player on the WTA tour and probably is going to stay that way for many years to come. She is a fantastic player, but she is not a great grass-court player. Three times since 2019, the Pole has been knocked out of the grass-court major by the third round.
Against Yulia Putintseva in the third round, Swiatek was simply outplayed and outhit. If one did not know who was the top seed and was watching the match, the person likely would not have guessed the No. 1 player was Swiatek. Putintseva crushed the Pole’s serve and overwhelmed Swiatek with power.
Swiatek, likely every player, especially those used to winning tournaments, has extreme confidence in her abilities. Admitting someone outplayed them or was the better player on a certain day can be difficult, but some excellent players, such as Novak Djokovic, can lose and still give credit where it’s due: To their opponent who just defeated them.
Iga Swiatek cannot find the words to praise her opponent the way Novak Djokovic would
Djokovic has rarely made excuses about a loss. He might mention an injury, but usually only in passing and always with a glance to his foe and how that player did great things to win. Swiatek can come off a bit robotic. She also struggled to give Putintseva any praise for how well the Kazakh performed.
In her own post-match comments, Putintseva said, “I was just so focused on playing fast and not giving her any time. So, that’s pretty much it. I was feeling it on the court and that is why I was like fire. I was trying to entertain you more and more with my shots.”
Iga Swiatek’s comments hardly had anything to do with her opponent, but almost all about what she did wrong. While the Pole won the first set, Putintseva cruised through sets two and three and only dropped three total games. The last two sets were so one-sided that Swiatek was helpless to accomplish much of anything against the Kazakh.
Still, Swiatek could not find her inner Djokovic and find the words to give credit to Putintseva. Swiatek said she was tired and did not rest enough after winning the French Open. Odd, though, that did not affect her very much in the first two rounds.
Iga Swiatek said after the match, “I totally let her come back into the game in the second set. I shouldn’t have done that. I made some mistakes as well. But for sure, she used her chance…If I would have more energy going into the tournament I can work through that and focus on the right stuff.”
