Iga Swiatek’s Wimbledon win has exposed a problem in tennis that badly needs to be fixed

Follow us on Google Discover

Iga Swiatek won Wimbledon in extraordinary fashion, producing a dominant performance in the final.

Competing in her first final at the All England Club, Swiatek met Amanda Anisimova with the Wimbledon title on the line.

In straight sets, Swiatek defeated Anisimova 6-0, 6-0, clinching the title after just 57 minutes of action.

The Pole had struggled at the All England Club before 2025, reaching the quarterfinals just once, in 2023.

This time around, something was different, as Swiatek clinched her first title, although scratching beneath the surface, her win may have just exposed a real issue within the sport.

Iga Swiatek’s Wimbledon win proves the tennis schedule needs fixing

For the first time in four years, Swiatek didn’t win the French Open title, as she fell at the semifinal stage to her biggest rival, Aryna Sabalenka.

Losing earlier than usual, Swiatek headed to Mallorca to begin a block of grass-court training, something she hadn’t been able to do in previous years.

Taking the time to work on her game, Swiatek enjoyed her best-ever grass-court result in her Wimbledon warm-up event, reaching the final of the Bad Homburg Open.

Carrying that momentum forward to Wimbledon, a re-energized Swiatek qualified for the final, dropping just one set along the way.

Securing the win against Anisimova, Swiatek picked up her first Wimbledon title in dominant fashion.

It is surely, however, no coincidence that the 24-year-old won Wimbledon for the first time on the rare occasion that she faltered in Paris.

Those extra few days were crucial, as the Pole had time to rest, recover, and get to grips with a surface she had historically struggled on.

A lot has been made of the quick turnaround between the French Open and Wimbledon, as players who contested the 2025 Roland Garros final (Aryna Sabalenka and Coco Gauff) were playing their first-round matches at SW19 just 23 days later.

As Gauff lost her first-round match at Wimbledon, those concerns resurfaced, as one top WTA coach shared his thoughts.

Patrick Mouratoglou argued that the quick turnaround is a problem, highlighting the difficulties in transitioning from clay to grass.

“The only explanation that makes sense is the fact that you don’t have enough time between two Grand Slams,” said Mouratoglou.

“The switch between clay, where the bounce is very high and you’re sliding, compared to grass, where the bounce is low and potentially extremely low when the players play flatter or slice, where the ball accelerates, when it touches the ground, where you’re not supposed to slide, but make a lot of little steps, where the service is so important.

“It’s crazy to have so little time to get used to those conditions. You always find out that the players who have the most naturally adapted game to grass are the ones performing.”

The 55-year-old couldn’t, however, provide a solution, as he noted that neither the French Open nor Wimbledon can move dates because of the weather.

Whilst significant changes wouldn’t work, surely even a day on either side could make a world of difference.

Swiatek gained just three or four days extra by losing in the French Open semis this year, which helped her win Wimbledon for the first time.

If the International Tennis Federation considered moving the French Open forward by a few days or Wimbledon back by a few days, then perhaps we would see Roland Garros champions become more competitive on the grass.

How have French Open champions performed at Wimbledon in the last ten years?

The last woman to win the French Open and Wimbledon back-to-back was Serena Williams in 2015, as players have struggled to perform at both tournaments in recent years.

Only Jelena Ostapenko and Iga Swiatek qualified for the quarterfinals of Wimbledon off the back of French Open victories, as several others suffered early exits.

It remains to be seen whether the powers that be will make a change to the schedule in the future, but if not, we may continue to see French Open champions struggle when they make the transition to grass.

The 2026 French Open women’s final is scheduled to take place on Saturday, June 6, with the first round of matches at Wimbledon starting 23 days later on Monday, June 29.