Swiatek seeks rest ahead of Wimbledon push
WHILE Emma Raducanu and her compatriots step up their Wimbledon preparations on grass this week, Iga Swiatek will retreat home to Warsaw. The dominating French Open champion, who equalled Venus Williams’ 21st-century record of 35 successive wins with her triumph over Coco Gauff, has not slept in her own bed since early April and will prioritise recharging ahead of preparing for the All England Club. As she proved on Saturday, she is by some margin the world’s best player, although she admitted the turf is her biggest challenge. ‘My coach believes I can win more matches on grass, I don’t know about that yet,’ Swiatek said. ‘Grass is always tricky. I actually like the part that I have no expectations. It’s refreshing.’ The Pole, 21, is due to play in Berlin during the week of Queen’s but sounded in no hurry to get ready after an exhausting unbeaten campaign on clay. ‘I want to stay at least a week at home. We have some grass courts, like two probably, maybe an hour and a half from Warsaw.’ For all Swiatek’s modesty there seems no reason she should not enjoy a strong run at SW19. She won the juniors in 2018, beating Raducanu among others, and reached the fourth round last year. The British grass-court season ramps up today with the women’s Rothesay Open at Nottingham. Raducanu will make her first competitive appearance on home soil of the season as the second seed against Switzerland’s Viktorija Golubic in the opening round. She could face Heather Watson in round two. Dan Evans is top seed in the men’s event also taking place in Nottingham. Following his semi-final loss at Surbiton Andy Murray has headed to the grass event in Stuttgart. He faces Australian Chris O’Connell in the first round.
■ ALFIE HEWETT and Gordon Reid won the men’s wheelchair doubles yesterday to hand Britain belated success at the French Open. The top seeds defended their title with a 7-6, 7-6 victory over Shingo Kunieda and Gustavo Fernandez. Hewett, 24, said: ‘What a battle that was. It was probably some of the best wheelchair tennis we could have put on.’