‘IGA SWIATEK IS NOT A WIMBLEDON FAVOURITE – COCO GAUFF IS LICKING HER LIPS AT CHANCE TO PLAY HER ON GRASS’
Greg Rusedski has asserted that Iga Swiatek is “not one of the favourites” to win this year’s Wimbledon title as he claimed the women’s event will be “wide open.”
The 1997 US Open runner-up believes Coco Gauff will be relishing the prospect of facing Swiatek on grass as it will present an opportunity to “start squaring up” the pair’s rivalry.
Grass is the surface Swiatek has found the most difficult and had the least success on in her career to date. The 23-year-old Pole has won 12 titles on hard courts and 10 on clay, while she is yet to reach a grass-court final.
The fact far fewer tournaments are played on grass partly explains this, but in addition, Wimbledon is the only Grand Slam event where Swiatek has not reached at least the semi-finals.
The world No 1 and five-time Grand Slam champion will not play a grass-court tournament before this year’s Wimbledon Championships, which will begin on July 1. Swiatek withdrew from this week’s WTA 500 event in Berlin.
Gauff, meanwhile, is aiming to win a maiden grass-court title in Berlin, where she is due to face Ons Jabeur in the quarter-finals today.
The world No 2 achieved her joint-best Wimbledon result so far on her debut in 2019, when she reached the fourth round as a 15-year-old qualifier. The 20-year-old American reached the same stage in 2021.
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On an episode of the Tennis Channel Inside-In podcast, Rusedski gave his thoughts on the chances of Swiatek and Gauff at Wimbledon this year.
“Well I think, if you look at her (Swiatek), she’s won four French Opens, one US Open,” said the former world No 4.
“For Coco, let’s be honest, grass against Iga, she’s licking her lips. She’s thinking, ‘That’s my time to start squaring up this rivalry’. She came to the forefront when she beat Venus Williams and announced herself to the world and the British public at Wimbledon [in 2019].
“And I think Brad Gilbert has done a great job with her, and I think they’re probably saying, ‘Okay, semis [at the French Open] is solid, we didn’t play our best in the semis. But now we got Wimbledon coming on, this is our one after winning the US Open last year’.
“So I think the rivalry will be there, but on clay (Swiatek), it’s like watching Rafa. We’ve got [Roger] Federer, [Novak] Djokovic, [Andy] Murray, [Stan] Wawrinka, all those guys. I’m sorry, it’s just, that’s what Swiatek is now.
“I’m hoping that Coco can bring her A-game to Wimbledon this year and has got a real shot to win. Let’s not forget [Aryna] Sabalenka got ill this year at the French.
“And there’s a few other names, there’s [Elena] Rybakina and players like that on the grass courts. So Wimbledon’s wide open. And you’re talking about Wimbledon coming up — Swiatek is not one of the favourites for the title.”
2024-06-22T11:25:09Z dg43tfdfdgfdTennis icon makes Carlos Alcaraz and Iga Swiatek Grand Slam title prediction