Martina Navratilova has been left really surprised by the ladies’ Wimbledon tournament as a whole, speaking just yesterday about the state of women’s tennis.
Her claims came before Iga Swiatek defeated Amanda Anisimova handily in the final, but remain just as relevant now as she dissected how the draw had transpired across the last two weeks.
It has been a curious tournament on both the men’s and women’s sides, with the latter less surprising given how many new winners Wimbledon continues to throw up.
After Barbora Krejcikova’s third-round exit, Serena Williams would once again remain the only woman since 2016 to have successfully defended this coveted crown.
Navratilova sought to explore why.
Martina Navratilova surprised by the ladies’ Wimbledon tournament
Speaking to the BBC ahead of yesterday’s ladies’ Wimbledon final, Navratilova made up a line of true tennis royalty who were all looking forward to a hard-fought match.
She, alongside Billie Jean King and Chris Evert, discussed the intricacies of playing in such an event and offered their predictions and insights. None of them would have expected the massacre that was to come.
Although Navratilova did outline one thing she had noticed throughout the tournament which she found strange, which remains the case even now after Swiatek’s 6-0, 6-0 success in the final.
Speaking about the prospect of the women having yet another first-time winner of Wimbledon, the 68-year-old admitted: “I think it shows how many more good players there are and when they get hot, they can even win here.
“Some we would not have expected, but most of them are multi-slam winners. So it’s not a one-off. It’s not an accident, but still, the fact that now we have a new one. In the round of 16, nobody’s even into the finals here. So that’s never happened since I’ve been playing.
“So we have more parity, but we also have more champions because they can rise to the occasion.”
Swiatek revealed what it’s like dealing with the pressure after winning the Wimbledon title, as an unexpected victor, but not like the other surprise winners of recent years.
Iga Swiatek is a unique Wimbledon champion
When delving through the list of recent women’s Wimbledon champions, Swiatek is different from most of the names.
After all, whilst Krejcikova and Marketa Vondrousova deserve praise for their runs to the title, they were wholly unexpected. There had been little sign of them ever competing for this title, and throughout their careers had rarely shown any Grand Slam pedigree, the former’s shock French Open title aside.
And whilst the 24-year-old had never gone really deep at the All-England Club, to discount her chances from any event would be foolish.
She was a five-time Grand Slam champion, having won across two surfaces, and was once the top-ranked undisputed best player in the world.
Swiatek is a unique Wimbledon champion because, whilst she was a surprise winner, the reason behind many people’s shock is not down to her quality.
She is on a completely different level to the likes of Garbine Muguruza, the aforementioned duo, Elena Rybakina and even Angelique Kerber.
Perhaps this could be the start of a supremely successful relationship with grass going forward.
