Iga Swiatek and Jessica Pegula had very different experiences at Wimbledon this year.
Swiatek won the Wimbledon title for the first time in her career, culminating in an emphatic final victory over Amanda Anisimova.
While in one of the biggest shocks of the opening round, Pegula lost to Elisabetta Cocciaretto in the first round.
Before Wimbledon even happened this year, Pegula told Swiatek something when they played in the final of the grass court tournament in Bad Homburg.
Photo by Julian Finney/Getty ImagesWhat Jessica Pegula noticed was different about Iga Swiatek before Wimbledon this year
The only grass court tournament that Swiatek played before Wimbledon this year was in Bad Homburg.
Swiatek would reach her first grass court final at the WTA 500 tournament, before losing to Pegula in straight sets.
Pegula was full of praise for Swiatek after that final, and she has now pointed out how much the Pole’s serve had noticeably improved when they played.
“I thought she was serving a lot bigger,” Pegula said in her pre-tournament press conference at the Washington Open. “I didn’t really watch her much during Wimbledon. I’m not sure if that was better.
“But she was serving really big in Bad Homburg and playing good tennis and beat good grass court players. I thought our final was a really high level. It was super close.
“You know she is always kind of down on herself about grass, and I was like, ‘Hey, you’re playing really good on grass, ‘I’m not really sure why you think you’re bad on grass or what it is’.
“So it was kind of funny she ended up winning Wimbledon. I was like, of course I said that and we had that moment when we played in the final and then she wins Wimbledon, but that’s just tennis for you.
“You never kind of know. She’s a great player anyway, so she’s going to be good on any surface. But yeah, it is interesting for…tennis is weird. You have a lot of weird things that happen over the course of two weeks.”
Question to No. 1 seed Jess Pegula from @vanshv2k
Given that you beat Iga in the final of Bad
Homburg, what was your level of surprise at her winning Wimbledon in the manner that she did? What did you notice about her specifically on the grass that was maybe different this year? pic.twitter.com/uzdoq2bqH0
— TennisONE App (@TennisONEApp) July 20, 2025
View Tweet
The serve is not the only change that was noticed about the Wimbledon champion on grass this year, with a different American pinpointing another improvemnt in Swiatek.
Iga Swiatek’s serve in the Bad Homburg final vs Wimbledon
Despite losing the Bad Homburg final in straight sets, Swiatek’s improved serve was certainly effective after hitting nine aces past Pegula.
Number of aces and second serve win percentage were the only two things that Swiatek did better in the Bad Homburg final compared to her average at Wimbledon.
At Wimbledon, Swiatek won significantly more points on first serve and on average was broken less than a game per match.
Iga Swiatek’s Service Stats on grass 2025Bad Homburg FinalWimbledon AverageAces93.4Double Faults32.4First Serve %58%64.1%First Serve Win %68%79%Second Serve Win %59%53.4%Games Broken20.9
While grass courts are supposed to help serving, Swiatek will be hoping that she can continue her improved numbers on the North American hard court swing.
Another goal of the world number three will be to gain ranking points, as Swiatek looks to close the gap on Aryna Sabalenka.