July 6, 2024: Iga Swiatek loses in the third round of Wimbledon to Yulia Putintseva. The press turns on the Pole, accusing her of being unable to play anywhere but on clay, calling her disappointing and inconsistent. 371 days later, that same Iga Swiatek, who had dropped to No. 8 in the WTA rankings and had gone over a year without reaching a single final, triumphs in London without dropping a single game in the final. The Pole finally managed to tame the grass that had never suited her game, capturing a sixth Grand Slam title in her young career. From Queen of Clay to Queen of Grass, here are the key dates on Iga Swiatek’s road to her Wimbledon title.
The reign on clay – summer 2024
Iga Swiatek’s 2024 season began with the usual intensity. After a brief disappointment at the Australian Open, where she bowed out in the third round to Czech teenager Linda Noskova in a tight battle (6-3, 3-6, 6-4), the Polish star quickly returned to winning ways. In February, she lifted the trophy in Doha for the third year in a row, reaffirming her ability on hard courts. The Sunshine Double loomed, and in Indian Wells, she produced a near-perfect tournament, securing her second title in California and cementing her place on top of the WTA rankings.
Back in Europe, the clay season felt like a homecoming. Swiatek, widely regarded as the Queen of Clay, opened her campaign in Stuttgart, a tournament she had already conquered three times. Indoors, under controlled conditions and on a surface tailored to her game, she dispatched Elise Mertens (6-3, 6-4) and Emma Raducanu (7-6, 6-3). But in the semifinals, she ran into Elena Rybakina, who handed her a rare defeat (3-6, 6-4, 3-6). Still, she remained composed. This was only the beginning… and her only defeat on clay that season.
Then came Madrid. The altitude, the slick clay, and the fast conditions have often posed challenges for Iga in the Spanish capital. But this time, she seemed determined to change the narrative. She stormed through the draw, dropping just one set and a total of 20 games before reaching the final where her greatest rival, Aryna Sabalenka, was waiting. Their match was an instant classic, stretching over three hours and demanding every ounce of mental resilience. Swiatek saved two championship points and eventually triumphed 9-7 in the super tie-break. The victory was not only emotional it was symbolic. Madrid was the last major clay title missing from her résumé. She had now completed the sweep.
« It was the best final in my whole career. I felt good on the court, we played a fierce, intense match. »
Her momentum carried her seamlessly into Rome. On the slow Italian clay, she was simply untouchable. Round after round, she delivered clinical performances, not losing a single set. The final? Another showdown with Sabalenka. But this time, there was no suspense. Swiatek was ruthless, winning 6-2, 6-3 in just over 75 minutes. Her level seemed to reach new heights. She was confident, composed, and physically at her peak, an ominous sign for the rest of the field ahead of Roland Garros.
In Paris, expectations were sky-high. Iga was the two-time defending champion and had won 21 of her last 22 matches. But the City of Light almost witnessed a shocking exit. In the second round, she faced Naomi Osaka in a match that swung wildly. « For sure this match was really intense. Much more intense for the second round than I ever expected. Naomi played amazing tennis. » Swiatek was down 7-5, 1-6, 3-5 and faced match point. In that moment, she showed her true champion’s heart clawing her way back in an epic turnaround. « When I was really under the biggest pressure I was able to actually focus more and play better. » It was a defining moment of the tournament.
What followed was pure domination. Over the next five rounds, she lost only 17 games, including a double bagel 6-0, 6-0 against Potapova and a 6-0 first set against Wimbledon champion Markéta Vondroušová. In the final, she dismantled Jasmine Paolini 6-2, 6-1, showing no mercy. With her fourth Roland Garros title in five years, Iga Swiatek had solidified her place in tennis history.
Her clay-court season was now complete: 19 wins in a row, three major titles, and a confidence that looked unshakable. She was on top of the world, the sky was the limit, and she had reached it.
Bronze tears – Olympics 2024
While Swiatek had made it clear she had « no expectations » for Wimbledon, her exit still came earlier than hoped. On a surface she has never enjoyed, the world No. 1 was ousted in the third round by Yulia Putintseva (6-3, 1-6, 2-6), another reminder of her uneasy relationship with grass. Unshaken, Swiatek quickly turned the page. She returned to Paris ahead of schedule, not for clay glory this time, but to chase something even more meaningful: Olympic gold, on home soil, in her Roland-Garros kingdom.
Her start was commanding. She breezed through the early rounds, dropped a single set against Danielle Collins before the American retired and reached the semifinals without real trouble. But then, the first crack appeared in the machine, the first sign of faltering. On a court where she seemed invincible, Swiatek suddenly faltered. Facing China’s Qinwen Zheng, she looked tight, hesitant, strangely off-tempo. The score was clear: Zheng won 6-2, 7-5, handing Swiatek her first loss in Paris since 2021 and her first ever on Philippe-Chatrier in nearly 30 matches.
In the post-match interview, Swiatek broke down in tears. « I just messed up… it wasn’t technically well positioned. So I just messed up » she admitted, visibly shaken. The pain ran deep, not just because of the loss, but because of what was at stake. « I would trade one of my Grand Slam titles for an Olympic medal » she later confessed, underlining just how much this tournament meant to her, her family, and her country.
While Zheng went on to claim the gold, becoming the first Chinese Olympic tennis champion since Li Na’s legacy years, Swiatek gathered herself with dignity. In the bronze medal match, she rediscovered her rhythm and swept past Slovakia’s Anna Karolína Schmiedlová 6-2, 6-1.
« After the match I was pretty confused. On the other hand, I won today … so I should be proud of that. Mixed emotions. I’m happy that I could leave Paris with a medal and a lot of knowledge about myself […] It wasn’t like a normal tournament. »
With immense strength of character, she secured a historic bronze medal, Poland’s very first in Olympic tennis and stood proudly on the podium. Yet even in victory, the taste was bittersweet.
Echoes of doubt – autumn 2024
The Olympic break had unsettled the rhythm of the season. Swiatek opted to skip Montreal and returned to action in Cincinnati, where she equalled her best result by reaching the semifinals. There she ran into a well‑rested Aryna Sabalenka, who had bypassed the Games, and fell in straight sets as the Belarusian embarked on a sensational points‑hauling run toward the world No. 1 ranking. « For sure, it wasn’t a good performance for me ». Despite the loss, Swiatek left Cincinnati encouraged and set her sights on Flushing Meadows, the Grand Slam she had lifted in 2022, full of confidence.
In New York she looked every bit the champion. Four rounds without dropping a set, just twenty‑two games lost in total, her serve and groundstrokes firing on all cylinders. In the quarterfinals she met Jessica Pegula, the American crowd favourite who had never defeated her before. Buoyed by the home fans, Pegula produced the fiercest tennis of her career, and Swiatek could not find an answer, going down 2‑6, 4‑6. It was a reminder that even the very best can be outplayed on any given day.
« I’m always trying to have lower expectations […] I feel like when I have high ones, I never perform well. But it’s hard to have low expectations when everybody is expecting something from you. »
Afterwards many assumed that Swiatek would regroup and close the year with the same momentum she showed in 2023, when she recovered her number one spot by triumphing at the season finals in Riyadh. But no one could have foreseen that September 5, 2024 would mark her final match for several months, a sudden pause that would cast long shadows over the rest of her season.
Highway through hell – final months of 2024
On October 4, everything changed. Swiatek announced on Instagram that she was ending her three-year collaboration with coach Tomasz Wiktorowski. « Our main goal was to become number one player in the world and coach Wiktorowski was the one who said it first. Due to this important change on my team, I give myself a couple of weeks to start cooperation with a new coach. » Just one month later, she confirmed that her new mentor would be Wim Fissette, renowned for his work with Kim Clijsters, Simona Halep, Victoria Azarenka, Angelique Kerber, and Naomi Osaka.
Swiatek addressed the upheaval with refreshing clarity: « As you know, I’m preparing for the WTA Finals but my perspective is, as always, long-term, not short-term. I said many times that my career is a marathon for me, not a sprint, and I’m working, operating, and making decisions with this approach. I want to say that I’m very excited and looking forward to working with Wim. He seems to have a great attitude, vision, and huge experience at the very top level of tennis. It’s always crucial to try and get to know each other better, but we’re off to a good start and I can’t wait to compete soon. »
Then, on November 28, came the announcement that shook the tennis world. In a candid and emotional video, Swiatek revealed that a routine out-of-competition doping test conducted on August 12 had detected elevated levels of trimetazidine (TMZ), a banned substance. The crushing blow, the sudden stop.
« « I was in the middle of a photoshoot with my sponsor in Warsaw. I saw that I got an email from this portal, and I thought it was just a reminder to do my whereabouts or something… I didn’t even read it because I started crying. I gave my manager the phone and she read everything. I had no idea if I should even continue doing this shoot, because my face was all red, I was crying for probably 40 minutes. » »
The International Tennis Integrity Agency (ITIA) later concluded that the trace had come not from deliberate doping but from an accidental contamination in a melatonin-based medication she had been using to manage jet lag and sleep issues. Manufactured and sold in Poland, the supplement had triggered the positive result, but at an extremely low level, and unintentionally so.
Despite the exonerating expert analysis and multi-lab investigation, the announcement hit hard. She was provisionally suspended starting September 22 and served 22 official days off the tour. When the ITIA confirmed the contamination was unintentional on October 8, they lifted the suspension, allowing her to play the upcoming WTA Finals and Billie Jean King Cup. She then completed the remaining eight days afterward.
« That unsuspected positive test put everything I have worked so hard for my entire life into question. »
When Swiatek returned to competition on November 3, she was the defending champion at the WTA Finals and had earned back the No. 1 ranking the year before. Placed in the Group Orange alongside Gauff, Pegula and Krejcikova, she lost her first set but rallied to beat the reigning Wimbledon champion 4‑6, 7‑5, 6‑2. She then demolished Daria Kasatkina (who stepped in for Pegula) 6‑1, 6‑0, but fell to Gauff once again, 3‑6, 4‑6, only the second loss in her career to the American. Although the comeback was admirable, her group-stage exit marked a sobering reset. Swiatek kept fighting, but it tasted different now.
The Pole’s next goal was team glory at the Billie Jean King Cup Finals in Malaga. Leading Poland, she helped eliminated Spain, beating Badosa 6‑3, 6‑7, 6‑1, and then faced the Czech Republic. In a rematch of her earlier loss in Australia, she beat Noskova 7‑6, 4‑6, 7‑5. The semifinal against Italy was a nerve-racking culmination: after Linette fell to Bronzetti, Poland’s hopes rested on Swiatek to keep the tie alive. Her match against Paolini was one of the most thrilling of the year: she edged it 3‑6, 6‑4, 6‑4 in emotional fashion. Minutes later, she paired with Kawa in the doubles decider. After failure to convert three set points at 5‑4 and loosing the first set, the Poland doubles held a 5‑1 lead in the second set… yet collapsed. The Italians stormed back to win six consecutive games and eliminate the Poland Team.
Her 2024 campaign closed with a record of 64 wins against just 9 losses, an 88% win rate, including 11 victories against top‑10 opponents. But beyond the results, the season revealed more than ever what resilience and character mean in this sport. Swiatek entered a new chapter: world No. 2 behind Sabalenka, battle‑tested, defined not by untroubled triumphs but by how she faced adversity head-on.
A new dawn – 2025 begins
Iga Swiatek kicks off her 2025 season in Perth, representing Poland at the United Cup. A useful barometer ahead of the Australian Open, the tournament allows players to ease into the rhythm of competition. On Australian hard courts, Swiatek’s record has often been uneven with an early exit pattern offset only by a lone semi-final run in 2022.
Teaming up with Hubert Hurkacz once again, Swiatek quickly finds her range. She dispatches Norway’s Malene Helgø (6–1, 6–0) and the always dangerous Karolína Muchová (6–3, 6–4). Against Katie Boulter, she drops her first set of the season before turning the match around (6–7, 6–1, 6–4). She then edges out Elena Rybakina in a high-quality encounter (7–6, 6–4), setting up a final clash with Coco Gauff. There, Swiatek is outmaneuvered for a second straight time by the American (4–6, 4–6). With Hurkacz also falling to Taylor Fritz, Team USA takes the title, leaving Poland as runners-up for the second year in a row.
Despite promising moments, questions linger ahead of the Melbourne Slam. Along with Wimbledon, the Australian Open has often been the most elusive Grand Slam for the Pole, a surface where her natural clay-court fluidity has struggled to fully translate. But this time, something has changed: she appears colder, calmer, more clinical.
In her first five matches, Iga delivers a masterclass in control. Across victories over Kateřina Siniaková (6–3, 6–4), Rebecca Šramková (6–0, 6–2), Emma Raducanu (6–1, 6–0), Eva Lys (6–0, 6–1), and Emma Navarro (6–1, 6–2), she concedes just 14 games. Three bagels. Three 6–1 sets. No signs of hesitation. She storms into the semi-finals looking untouchable.
There, she meets Madison Keys. The match quickly turns into a tense battle of momentum. Swiatek edges the first set 7–5, but Keys responds with a blistering second, 6–1. In the deciding set, the tension mounts. The Pole earns a break and reaches match point, but a deep, skidding return from Keys forces a netted backhand. Keys breaks back instantly, and the match heads to a tie-break. Swiatek, uncharacteristically erratic, commits nine unforced errors. On the final point, a forehand sails long. It’s over.
Defeated, but far from disgraced, Swiatek exits one step short of the final. Given her pre-tournament uncertainty, the semi-final run is a quiet triump, unexpected, yet revealing.
« I’m still young and I have things to learn, I have different areas which I can develop, so I’ll try next year. »
Her Middle East swing brings more high-level tests. In Doha and Dubai, two tournaments where she has previously triumphed, Swiatek reaches the semi-final and quarter-final respectively. She overcomes formidable opponents: Maria Sakkari, Linda Nosková, and Rybakina again, but suffers defeats to two players who will haunt her throughout 2025: Jelena Ostapenko and 16-year-old phenom Mirra Andreeva.
Returning to the United States, Swiatek sets out to defend her Indian Wells crown. Her form is strong early on: she cruises to the semi-finals while dropping just 12 games, including a composed win over Qinwen Zheng, avenging her Olympic loss from the previous summer. But again, Andreeva stops her, this time in three sets. The defeat leaves visible marks. In a flash of frustration after a point, Swiatek strikes a loose ball into the court, thrown innocently by a ball kid. It’s the first sign of visible emotional fatigue.
« I expressed frustration in a way I’m not proud of. I never intended to aim the ball at anyone, only to vent. I apologized immediately. »
In Miami, her path is steadier, but far from smooth. Though she doesn’t drop a set, she is pushed hard in each round. Then comes a shock: a 2–6, 5–7 loss to Alexandra Eala, ranked No. 140 in the world. The young Filipino puts together the performance of her life, ousting the world No. 2 in straight sets.
And so, the pattern continues. Despite impressive consistency, Świątek hasn’t reached a final since June 8, 2024. Something simmers beneath the surface, calm, calculated, but undeniably unresolved.
Shadows over the queen – spring 2025
The return of the clay season brought a sense of familiarity but not yet of relief. The early months of the year had yielded no titles and no finals, and although the results remained respectable, something still seemed amiss. In Stuttgart, on her beloved indoor clay, Swiatek opened with a routine win over Jana Fett (6-2, 6-2), but once again stumbled against her nemesis: Jelena Ostapenko. The Latvian extended her perfect record to 6–0 against the Pole, exposing cracks in Swiatek’s armor that no surface seemed able to conceal.
Madrid offered little comfort at first. In a tense opening round, Swiatek trailed against Alexandra Eala, who had stunned her weeks earlier, before narrowly escaping in three sets. Wins over Noskova and Shnaider followed, solid but unconvincing, the latter requiring a third-set grind. Then came a shock: a 0–6 first set against Madison Keys, her first bagel in over four years. But Swiatek responded with steel, flipping the match in her favor and marching into the semifinals. There, however, she ran into a dominant Coco Gauff, who dismantled her 6–1, 6–1 for the third consecutive time. Swiatek’s frustration boiled over: yells, contested calls, even a few tears during the changeover. The aura of invincibility was fading.
Stories about Swiatek’s private life have continued to trouble the young star, and with her recent uncertain form on court, the latest wave of misleading reports has clearly added to her frustration. Rumors started to circulate that she might be considering a break from tennis and would miss Wimbledon in July. However, the Polish star has firmly denied these claims, insisting that she has no plans to skip the grass-court season.
« There are so many theories right now, I would say, especially in Polish media about me that are not true […]. I don’t know, you guys like to make some articles that will attract people. »
Those territories she once conquered… a time that felt so distant.
In Rome, the scene of so many triumphs, her confidence briefly flickered to life with a crushing 6–1, 6–0 win over Cocciaretto. But in the next round, she unraveled again, falling in straight sets to Danielle Collins. There was no fightback this time, just resignation. For a player with a 21–2 record in the Eternal City, this early exit was jarring. The ranking points slipped through her fingers, Iga dropped to No. 5, her lowest position in three years.
Roland-Garros arrived with uncertainty. Though Swiatek remained the reigning queen of Paris, she made it clear: this year felt different. She cruised through her first three matches, dispatching Sramkova, Raducanu, and Cristian without fuss. The loss of Ostapenko in the draw spared her a dreaded rematch, but in the fourth round, Elena Rybakina awaited, a rival nearly as dangerous. After a lopsided opening set, Swiatek dug deep and clawed her way to a tight three-set win. She followed that with a composed performance against Svitolina to book her spot in the semifinals.
« I love playing here, even this year […]. I played better than weeks before. »
There, the long-awaited clash with Aryna Sabalenka delivered on drama. Swiatek held a set point early, but Sabalenka snatched the first-set tiebreak. Swiatek regrouped to dominate the second, and for a moment, it seemed she had reclaimed control. But then the third set unfolded like a nightmare. Error after error, game after game… six in a row. A bagel, in Paris. Her crown, lost. After 26 consecutive victories at Roland-Garros, the run was over. For the first time since 2021, Iga Swiatek was no longer a finalist in Paris. The WTA rankings reflected the fall: down to No. 8. She had hit a low she hadn’t known in years.
Road to London – 2025 grass season
One full year. Twelve long months without a title, not even a final. For Iga Swiatek, the drought had become deafening and the criticism louder still, particularly in Poland, where headlines turned sharper and patience wore thin. The golden standard she had set was now weighing on her shoulders.
It is in this context, heavy with doubt, expectation, and frustration, that the short grass season begins. Swiatek enters the WTA 500 event in Bad Homburg, Germany, followed by the prestigious lawns of Wimbledon, the third Grand Slam of the season.
As she has openly admitted many times, grass is her least favorite surface. Her baseline-heavy, topspin-dominant game struggles to fully express itself on the low, slippery bounce of grass. The results had always reflected this mismatch: not a single WTA final reached on grass in her career.
And yet, something clicks in Germany. Calm, focused, and tactically sharp, she dismisses seasoned opponents one after the other: Azarenka, Alexandrova, and the 2024 Wimbledon runner-up Jasmine Paolini all in straight sets. With this run, Swiatek reaches her very first grass-court final. A glimmer of hope at the end of the tunnel. Against Jessica Pegula, she fights valiantly, pushing the American deep in both sets, but eventually falls 4–6, 5–7. Despite the defeat, the message is clear: she is adapting. The tournament ends not with disappointment, but with promise. In her own words: « There is hope for me on grass. »
A few days after her encouraging run in Bad Homburg, Iga Swiatek arrives in London for the Grand Slam she has always approached with a mix of caution and discomfort. Her best result there? A quarter-final in 2023. Seeded No. 8, a surprisingly low number for a player of her stature, though slightly improved after her German campaign, she prepares for another uncertain journey.
Her first opponent is Veronika Kudermetova. Curiously, a fun statistic starts circulating among tennis fans: whoever beats Kudermetova at Wimbledon tends to win the title. In 2024, it was Barbora Krejcikova… and we all know how that ended. This year, it’s Swiatek. And she doesn’t miss the opportunity to send a signal. Sharp, composed, and aggressive when needed, she wraps up her opening match in just over 70 minutes (7–5, 6–1), with a remarkable 78% of points won behind her first serve and 68% on her second.
In the second round against McNally, she momentarily stumbles, dropped the first set, but quickly regains control, closing out 5–7, 6–2, 6–1, once again dominating behind her serve. The momentum builds with confidence: Collins falls (6–2, 6–3), then Tauson (6–4, 6–1), and for the first time, Swiatek reaches the quarter-finals of Wimbledon without ever really being in danger.
But this time, she goes even further.
« Every slam has been totally different […]. For now I am enjoying this new feeling of being a bit more comfortable on grass »
With a clean, explosive performance, she dismisses Samsonova (6–2, 7–5) in a match where her instincts, her footwork, and her mentality seem perfectly tuned to the grass. Iga Swiatek is in the semi-finals of Wimbledon and she’s playing not just to chase a title, but to rewrite her story. What follows next is historic. Flawless. A demonstration.
Queen of Wimbledon – July 12th 2025
In the semi-final against Belinda Bencic, Iga Swiatek delivered a masterclass in domination. It took her just 35 minutes to close out the first set 6-2 and only 37 more to complete the match 6-0. A staggering total of two games lost. The efficiency was breathtaking. Swiatek was in the Wimbledon final. Meanwhile, the world No. 1 and her fiercest rival, Aryna Sabalenka, was sent packing by the young American Amanda Anisimova, after a grueling battle lasting over two and a half hours.
And so the stage was set for Saturday, July 12th, at 5 p.m. when Anisimova served the first ball. Swiatek wasted no time stamping her authority: a clean winner to open the match, 15-0. She kept the pressure relentless… 30-0, then 40-0. Anisimova managed a winning forehand to break the rhythm (40-15), but the Pole was relentless, immediately breaking serve at the very start.
From there, Swiatek served like a gunner, dropping only three points on her serve during the first set. The crowd watched in stunned silence as she cruised through the first set without conceding a single game: a 6-0 blitz in just 25 minutes. Was it the weight of the occasion on the young finalist, her exhaustion from the marathon semi-final, or simply the unyielding force that was Swiatek? Perhaps a mix of all three.
The second set began promisingly for Anisimova, who even led 15-30 on her serve early on. But the momentum belonged to Swiatek, who broke and immediately confirmed it with a second break to race ahead 3-0. It felt almost impossible for Anisimova, or anyone to stop Swiatek at that moment. The only slight moment of tension came at 3-0 when Swiatek battled through two deuces before finally holding serve for 4-0. Two deuces. Believe it or not, that was the tightest it ever got in the entire final.
From there, Swiatek lost just three more points. On her second championship point, she unleashed a breathtaking, blistering backhand down the line… a shot that sealed her victory and the title. The new Wimbledon champion was crowned: Iga Swiatek, a player who had just rewritten her legacy on the grass courts of London.
It’s hard to overstate what this title means for Iga Swiatek. After a full season in the shadows, without a single title, or even a final, the critics had grown louder, the doubts heavier. Her dominance on clay seemed far away, her aura of invincibility cracked. Injuries, pressure, frustration… everything had piled up. From her last final at Roland Garros, to a positive doping test in August and an early exit in Rome, Swiatek looked like a champion in search of herself. She fell to No. 8 in the rankings. Her confidence was at its lowest. And yet, quietly, step by step, she rebuilt.
« I felt lost at times, but I never stopped believing in my game. The drop in ranking was hard, but it gave me perspective. It forced me to work on my weaknesses and learn patience. This Wimbledon title is the reward for that process. »
The grass season could have been another chapter of struggle. After all, she had never won a single WTA final on grass, and Wimbledon had never been her stage. But something changed this time. A clear head, a calmer demeanor, and a more complete game. Swiatek turned her weaknesses into strengths. With each round, she silenced the doubts, the critics, and perhaps even her own. And now, after one of the most dominant runs of her career, the scoreboard reads what no one expected: the most dominant Grand Slam performances in modern history, a double bagel in just 57 minutes. As Reuters put it: her victory was « one of the most dominant performances in a Grand Slam final since 1988 », while The Guardian called it « the most one-sided final in 114 years. »
She did it. This tournament that had troubled her so much in the past, this surface that had penalized her so much, she tamed them. Iga Swiatek is the Wimbledon champion.
« Honestly, I didn’t even dream [of this] because for me it was just way too far […] How the media treated me and my team, it wasn’t really pleasant. I hope they will just leave me alone now. »