“I would say we mainly focused on my movement and how I should stop before hitting the ball,” Swiatek said of her grasscourt-specific training. “For sure I’m just happy that the work that I’ve been doing, I can use it now.
“That was my goal this year, because I saw how I can play on practice courts. I was just not sure if I can do it on the match court.
“I kind of already did. I’m going to try to continue that.”
The Bad Homburg result propelled her back inside the WTA top four – yet too late to impact her Wimbledon seeding – and she has since achieved her best Wimbledon result, surpassing her quarterfinal run in 2023.
Interestingly, that last-eight appearance at SW19 came after she saved two match points to beat Bencic in the fourth round.
Two years later she confronts Bencic again, this time in a semifinal featuring two Wimbledon junior champions targeting their first women’s singles final.
“I still feel like in 2023 I had a great tournament, and I was playing good tennis, but it obviously wasn’t enough to go further,” Swiatek reflected.
“This year, I feel like I developed as a player, and I had time to practise a little bit more. Match by match my confidence, for sure, went up so that I can use it on this Championship.”
Swiatek plays Bencic in the second women’s semifinal on Centre Court on Thursday.