#头条创作挑战赛##WTA##斯瓦泰克##高芙#
World No. 1 Swiatek and new No. 2 Coco Gauff have won two of the last three Grand Slam singles titles, but starting next week they set foot on the lush lawns of Wimbledon, where they never touched, wondering if they could become champions there, because it's grass... With Wimbledon approaching, they all want to change that, and to do so, they have to change what works well on other courts but doesn't necessarily work on grass.
Yesterday Swiatek and Gauff attended a press conference at Wimbledon, where Swiatek told reporters that "I don't feel like I'm underdog on grass, but for sure I feel like I really need to focus on being a better player, especially learning how to play the best tennis on grass"... And Goff was encouraged by the fact that there have been seven different champions here in the last seven years, which she noticed while watching the Wall of Champions at Wimbledon, so she told reporters that "there are a lot of different names here, there's a whole new feel to the game, except for Serena. Williams also has a lot of legends, so for me it shows that there are a lot of good players on the women's tour and this is anyone's game."
Both Swiatek and Gauff theoretically have the qualifications and background to succeed here, but perhaps their talent may have believed their relative lack of experience in a way, especially on grass, with the current 23-year-old Swiatek and 20-year-old Gauff actually the youngest top-two seeded players in the women's singles at Wimbledon since 2003, the last time being Serena Williams and Clijsters... They are more comfortable on both clay and hard courts, Swiatek has won the Roland Garros title four times, and Goff also won the US Open last year, Swiatek has a 9-4 record at Wimbledon so far, and Goff is 8-4, which is much lower than their win rate on hard or clay, neither of them has reached the Wimbledon quarter-finals, perhaps one of the important factors is their lack of deep familiarity or knowledge of grass... Of course, that doesn't mean they can't achieve better.
Swiatek lost her first match at Wimbledon after winning her first title at Roland Garros in 2019, followed by reaching the round of 16 in 2021, the third round in 2022 and the quarter-finals last year in a three-set defeat to Svitolina... While Navratinova won a record nine titles at Wimbledon with serves, volleys and points scored at the net, Swiatek is athletic and plays well at the net, and she said she will try to incorporate these factors into her Wimbledon tournament and try to increase the speed of her matches, using Navratinova's strategy... However, Swiatek has not played any grass-court tournaments since the French Open and before Wimbledon, which will be quite a test for her.
Five years ago, at the age of 15, Gauff won three qualifying matches at Wimbledon and then defeated Serena Williams in the first round of the main draw to reach the round of 16, but she lost to eventual champion Simone Halep... She lost to Kenin in the first round last year, but this year, Gauff, the youngest Wimbledon No.2 seed after Sharapova, is also focusing more on improving her serve speed and reducing unnecessary double faults.
In fact, since Swiatek and Gauff are still very strong in combination and have excellent defensive skills, they can win regularly even if their offense is not as good as they should be, they should be able to use this advantage well on grass, and the same is that both players are also doing their best to improve their serve efficiency, because they know that this is especially important on grass... "You have to serve and apply pressure to win on grass sometimes, and I've done it on other courts and hopefully it's similar on grass, so it's even more important here," Swiatek said.
Swiatek and Gauff lead their respective halves, and it is not known if it is possible to see the two of them face off again in the final...