Iga Swiatek won her first Wimbledon title on Sunday, adding to her four French Open victories and one US Open triumph.
The Pole blew away her competition in the final, defeating America’s Amanda Anisimova 6-0 6-0. Swiatek only lost two games in her last two rounds at Wimbledon, after beating Belinda Bencic 6-2 6-0 in the semi-final.
With her victory, Swiatek dispelled any discourse regarding poor grass court form during her career. The former world number one reached the first grass court final of her professional career in June at the Bad Homburg Open.
However, Swiatek does have a history of success at the championships, at the junior level. She won the Girls’ Singles title in 2018 as a 17-year-old.
Her opponent in that final has not enjoyed the same success as Swiatek since turning professional.
Leonie Kung is now ranked 263 in the world after reaching the Girls’ Singles final at Wimbledon in 2018
Leonie Kung, who reached a career high of 144 in the world in 2020, has not enjoyed the same success as Iga Swiatek since their meeting in the 2018 Girls’ Singles final at Wimbledon.
The Swiss player lost 4-6 2-6 to Swiatek in the final on that day, setting the stage for the Pole’s future triumph at Wimbledon on the professional tour.
However, Kung has since slipped to 263 in the world, struggling to break into the upper echelons of the WTA Tour.
Kung, who looked up to Li Na, Agnieszka Radwanska and Caroline Garcia when she was younger, most recently lost in the first round of the Newport Challenger to world number 255 Elizabeth Mandlik.
Kung reached 413 in the world in 2018, steadily rising to 322 in 2019 and a career best of 144 in the world in 2020.
Despite dropping to 575 at the end of 2022, the Swiss player has performed admirably to claw herself back into the top 300, reaching as high as 196 in 2025 so far.
Leonie Kung still has time to make her mark on the WTA Tour
We, as sports fans, can often judge a player too early. Leonie Kung was only a teenager when she reached the Girls’ Singles final at Wimbledon.
No path is linear, and the pressure of expectation can weigh heavy on a young player who had achieved so much early in her career.
It is worth noting that Kung is only 24 years old. While she may not have reached the heights some may have expected from her after the 2018 junior Wimbledon run, she is still a young player and has plenty of time to make her mark.
Even if she doesn’t achieve the heights of Swiatek, what she has achieved already is remarkable by any fair standard. Simply achieving the ranking she has highlights the years of hard work she has put in to reach this point, which is something to be commended.
