Iga Swiatek is out of the 2024 Wimbledon Championships after a shocking defeat to Yulia Putintseva, which left her very frustrated after the match.
The Pole didn't arrive in London as a big favorite winning Wimbledon, but she still wanted to do her best, knowing that as the World No. 1 on the WTA Tour, she would have a shot. She wanted to approach every match as a single entity and try to win it, and if she ended up winning seven matches in the fortnight, then she would add another major to her collection.
It didn't work out even though she started well. Despite winning the first set over Putintseva, she was completely outplayed in the following two, leading to a defeat in three sets.
After the match, a visibly frustrated Swiatek lamented a 'mistake' in the way she approached the event. According to the World No. 1 player, she didn't rest properly after Roland Garros and an exhausting clay season. She has played a lot of tennis lately, and it has left a mark on her.
"I know what I did wrong after Roland Garros. I didn't really rest properly. I'm not going to make this mistake again and after such a tough claycourt season, I really messed up my recovery."
"I literally came back to work, not tennis-wise, but like off court stuff and I shouldn't have done that so maybe next year I'm going to take a vacation and literally just do nothing."
Resting is certainly important for all tennis players because they accumulate a lot of fatigue during a tennis season. There is physical fatigue, mental fatigue, and everything in between those two.
Swiatek did blame a lack of energy for the defeat, but ultimately, whether it was that or mental fatigue, it didn't matter much. A loss is a loss, and she'll now have to wait a whole year to get a chance to do better at SW19 again. In the meantime, she'll be busy preparing for the 2024 Paris Olympics.