"Last year I felt a lot of pressure because I was No.1": Weight off Swiatek's shoulders heading into Wimbledon, confident on her chances

Iga Swiatek has said she feels a lot less pressure going into this year's Wimbledon in comparison to last year.

Standing at world No. 1 in the WTA rankings, it would be easy to assume that Iga Swiatek feels more than a little stressed going into Wimbledon 2023. After all, despite being a three-time French Open champion and winner of the 2022 US Open, the Polish player is yet to get past the fourth round of the SW19.

Indeed, such pressure seemed to get the better of Swiatek at the tournament last year, as her 37-match winning streak came to an abrupt end with her defeat at the hands of the current world No. 72 Alize Cornet in the third round.

However, this year Swiatek says that she feels much calmer. Speaking to reporters, she confirmed that 'Last year I felt a lot of pressure because I was No. 1.' In reference to this year though, she underlined that she is more prepared, both following last year's experiences, which taught her a lot, and because of her preparation for this year's grass season.

Swiatek admitted that 'Getting used to the grass is always a tricky part because when you play well on Roland Garros, you have less time to prepare for Wimbledon.' However, she also said that 'this year I feel like I've done a little bit more than in the past years.'

This preparation includes her recent participation at the Bad Homburg Open as a warm-up event for Wimbledon. Swiatek performed well, beating Tatjana Maria, Jill Teichmann, and Anna Blinkova on her way to the semi-final. Unfortunately, she was forced to withdraw at this point due to suspected food poisoning.

Whilst disappointed, Swiatek doesn't think the incident will affect her performance at Wimbledon, and will hopefully still serve as good practice going into the Grand Slam.

Swiatek will begin her bid for her fifth major title at 14:00 CET on Monday 3 July, against China's Zhu Lin.