'Confident' Iga Swiatek feels 'much more comfortable' at Wimbledon than last year after Lin Zhu win

Iga Swiatek says she feels “much more comfortable” at Wimbledon than she did last year, when «everybody was talking» about her 34-match winning streak. Swiatek came into Wimbledon a year ago having not lost since mid-February, but was beaten in the third round in straight sets by Alize Cornet. Ad This time around she enters the Grand Slam off the back of another French Open win, but also a first grass quarter-final in Bad Homburg.

WimbledonSwiatek makes positive start with straight-sets win over Zhu4 HOURS AGO The world No. 1 looked impressive as she started her Wimbledon campaign with a straight-sets victory over Zhu Lin on Court One. “The thing is that last year I just felt like I still have this streak going,” she explained afterwards.

“After Roland-Garros, kind of everybody was talking about that. It was a lot kind of on my shoulders when I got into the tournament. Obviously I tried to kind of just work through it, not really focus on that, what I usually do.

Really I'm not looking at numbers or stats. “But, yeah, it wasn't easy, especially having just played one tournament on grass last year. I think that's why was a little bit more tricky because I felt, like, rusty, kind of mentally in terms of the focus tennis-wise because I didn't play any matches on grass.

“I think this year is much more comfortable for me. For sure winning a Grand Slam this year, it feels like I kind of reached my goal. I was really kind of happy and I could celebrate after.

But last year, I just felt more expectations. “I think that's the difference.” Swiatek, who is a four-time Grand Slam champion, raced into a 5-0 lead against Zhu. Although Zhu offered more resistance in the second set, Swiatek managed to quickly close out the win following