World number one Swiatek blames shock Wimbledon exit on fatigue

Iga Swiatek admitted she was running out of energy at Wimbledon as the exhausted world number one suffered a shock third-round defeat to Yulia Putintseva on Saturday.

The top seed’s 21-match winning streak came to a surprising end on Court 1 when Russian-born Kazakh Putintseva claimed a 3-6, 6-1, 6-2 victory.

Swiatek won a fourth French Open and fifth Grand Slam title last month but felt the pressure of that clay-court triumph as she arrived at the All England Club.

Unable to muster the energy to control the fiery Putintseva, the Polish star once again failed at Wimbledon, where she never made it past the quarter-finals.

“I definitely felt like my energy level dropped a little bit in the second set. I couldn’t really get back up,” she said.

“My self-improvement tank suddenly emptied. I was a little surprised. But I know what I did wrong after Roland Garros. I didn’t really rest properly.

“I’m not going to make that mistake again. After such a difficult season on clay, I really need to recover.

“I need to recover better after the clay court season, both physically and mentally. Maybe next year I’ll take a vacation and do literally nothing.”

Swiatek, a four-time Roland Garros winner, has never managed to flourish on the grass of the All England Club.

“I played without fear”

Asked to explain her struggles in south-west London, she said: “Actually, this part of the season is not easy because we change surfaces.

“For me, going from a type of tennis where I felt like I was playing the best tennis of my life to another surface where I struggle a little more, it’s not easy.”

Losing to the diminutive Putintseva was particularly painful after their clash at Indian Wells earlier this year.

The chair umpire criticized Putintseva for moving from side to side as Swiatek prepared to serve.

Describing herself as “a gangster on the court and an angel off it,” Putintseva even managed a series of underarm serves.

“Maybe they teach that in Kazakhstan,” Swiatek said grumpily at the time.

Swiatek did not hesitate to praise Putintseva after their last meeting: “I totally let her come back into the game in the second set. I shouldn’t have done that.

“I made some mistakes too. But she definitely took her chance.”

Putintseva was also frosty when asked about her relationship with Swiatek.

“No, I don’t know her. She’s never, at least from what I see, always in her zone with her team,” she said.

“She doesn’t talk to anyone much. I mean, I don’t fit into that bubble.”

Unlike Swiatek, Putintseva has adapted well to grass and won on that surface in Birmingham just before Wimbledon.

“It clicked right away. At some point, I started playing without fear,” she said.

“I have nothing to lose, just go for it. She didn’t lose it. I took it.”