Shortly after Iga Swiatek completed the most lopsided French Open final in 17 years, ceding a grand total of three games, to claim a third consecutive title in Paris, she was asked whether that represented a perfect performance.

Swiatek’s mind immediately went to what little went wrong in Court Philippe Chatrier that afternoon.

“Obviously, I mean, I got broken at the beginning,” she said, “so it wasn’t maybe perfect.”

Swiatek used the word “perfectionist” to describe herself, perhaps offering some insight as to how she is approaching Wimbledon, the grass-court major that begins Monday — and the only grand slam tournament where she hasn’t been past the quarter finals.

“Overall, tennis is different on grass,” said Swiatek, who was a junior champion at the All England Club in 2018. “I’ll just see and I’ll work hard to play better there.”

The 23-year-old from Poland has won four of the past five trophies on the red clay at Roland Garros, capped by a 6-2, 6-1 victory against Jasmine Paolini for the championship on June 8.

Swiatek also was the 2022 champion at the hard-court US Open and made it to the Australian Open semi-finals on that surface earlier that season. But she is just 9-4 on the grass of the All England Club, by far her worst winning percentage at a Slam.

For someone who talks a lot about wanting to get “better and better,” not to mention someone who wants to do things perfectly on and off the court, it would make sense if she wanted to improve at Wimbledon. Specifically, that might entail using her serve and her volleys to accumulate more easy points on the slick surface.

“When I do anything, I want to do it 100 per cent. I think when you’re a perfectionist, you are a perfectionist everywhere ... and sometimes not being able to let it go,” Swiatek explained. “I’m working on it, and this is a tricky thing, because, for sure, it helps you to be
better, but sometimes it can be huge baggage, as well. So it’s good to manage it properly.”

When a reporter followed up by asking for an example or two of ways in which Swiatek finds herself wanting to be perfect away from tennis, she smiled and replied: “We’re not (in) therapy, so, sorry."