Poland’s Iga Swiatek serves against America’s Alison Riske during the women’s singles match on the fifth day of the French Open tennis tournament at Court Suzanne Lenglen in Paris on Thursday. (Photo: AFP)
LONDON, England (AFP) — An exhausted Wimbledon number one Iga Swiatek admitted she was running out of energy following her shock third-round defeat to Yulia Putintseva on Saturday.
The No. 1 seed’s 21-match winning streak came to a surprising end on Court 1 as the Russian-born Kazakh player Putintseva won 3-6, 6-1, 6-2.
Swiatek won her fourth French Open title and fifth Grand Slam title last month, but by the time she arrived at the All England Club she was feeling the strain of her clay-court triumph.
The Polish star was unable to muster the energy required to contain the fiery Putintseva and failed again at Wimbledon, where she has never made it past the quarter-finals.
“Definitely in the second set I felt like my energy level dropped a little bit and I just couldn’t bounce back,” she said.
“My tank of pushing myself to the limit was suddenly empty. It was a bit of a surprise. But I know what I did wrong after Roland Garros – I didn’t rest properly.”
“I will never make such a mistake again. I have had a tough season on clay courts and I absolutely need to bounce back.”
“After the clay court season I need to recover more physically and mentally. I might take next year off and do literally nothing.”
Swiatek, a four-time French Open champion, never quite thrived on the grass at the All England Club.
Asked to explain her struggles in south-west London, she replied: “The truth is, it’s not easy at this time of the season because the course changes.”
“For me, it’s not easy to go from this type of tennis where I felt like I was playing the best tennis of my life to a different surface where you’re going to struggle a bit more.”
The loss to the diminutive Putintseva was particularly painful following their meeting at Indian Wells earlier this year.
Putintseva was reprimanded by the chair umpire for moving from side to side as Swiatek was about to serve.
Putintseva described herself as a “gangster on the court and an angel off it” and also showed off a collection of underarm serves.
“Maybe that’s what they teach in Kazakhstan,” a sulky Światek said at the time.
Swiatek reluctantly praised Putintseva after her recent match, saying, “I let her get back into the match completely in the second set. I shouldn’t have done that.”
“I made some mistakes, but she definitely took advantage of her opportunities.”
Putintseva also gave a cold shoulder when asked about her relationship with Swiatek.
“No, I don’t know her. At least from what I’ve seen, she always likes to be in her own zone with her team,” she said.
“She doesn’t really talk to anybody, so I’m not in that bubble.”
Unlike Swiatek, Putintseva has adapted well to grass and even won on that surface in Birmingham just before Wimbledon.
“That was the catalyst. At one point I was playing fearlessly,” she said.
“You have nothing to lose. Just go for it. She didn’t lose it. I took it.”
