LONDON — World number one
Iga Swiatek said Saturday she is “overwhelmed” to see Serena
Williams back at Wimbledon, one year after the US legend limped away from the
All England Club.
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Williams, a
seven-time champion at the tournament, and still chasing an elusive 24th Grand
Slam title, will be playing her first singles match since her tearful,
injury-enforced withdrawal in the first round in 2021.
“I saw her
yesterday, I was pretty overwhelmed,” said Swiatek, the recently-crowned
French Open champion.
“I didn’t know how
to react. I wanted to meet her. I saw that she had so many people around her. I
don’t know her team. It was pretty weird.”
“But just seeing
her around is great because she’s such a legend, there’s nobody that has done
so much in tennis.”
Swiatek was not
even born when Williams made her Wimbledon debut in 1998.
But the Pole
appreciates the ground-breaking achievements of the American and sees the
40-year-old still as a genuine threat despite her ring-rustiness.
“I’m pretty sure
that she’s going to be in good shape because she has so much experience coming
back from breaks or just playing in Grand Slams. I think she can use it,” said
the 21-year-old.
Swiatek is on a
Serena-esque run of dominance herself this season.
Having taken over
from the now retired
Ashleigh Barty as world number one, she has put together a
35-match win streak.
That run surpassed
Serena’s best of 34 successive wins and equaled Venus Williams’ record of 35
straight victories in 2000 for the longest winning stretch by a woman in the
21st century.
A second French
Open triumph earlier this month also gave Swiatek a sixth title in 2022.
With defending
Wimbledon champion Barty retired, Swiatek has been given the honor of opening
Tuesday proceedings on Centre Court.
Swiatek, a former
Wimbledon junior champion, has yet to get past the fourth round of the women’s
singles.
She has also not
appeared on a grass court at all this summer, opting to rest after her final
win over
Coco Gauff in Paris.
“Honestly I still
feel like I need to figure out grass,” she added.
“Last year for
sure, it was that kind of tournament where I didn’t know what to expect. Then
match by match I realized maybe I can do more and more.”
Swiatek begins her
Wimbledon bid against Croatian qualifier Jana Fett.
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