Karolina Pliskova: "Wimbledon is a tournament where you can close your eyes and win it"
Karolina Pliskova, a former Wimbledon runner-up, recently gave her opinion on the Grass-court Major and why she thinks it doesn't have as many young champions as other Grand Slams.
Pliskova advanced to the last 16 of the 2023 Stuttgart Open on Wednesday (April 19), defeating eighth seed Maria Sakkari 6-2, 6-3 in one hour and 11 minutes. She spoke at a press conference following her victory, where she was asked if more experience is required to win the Wimbledon title than other Slams.
The Czech started by declaring that "timing" is crucial because the players only have two to three weeks to prepare for SW19. She added that the player's form that year also matters.
"I feel like you have just two, three weeks, so it just have to be the timing, you have to be, you just have to time also like your shape in that year, to have couple matches that year already that you won and just to feel good," Pliskova said.
"Because then you have two tournaments and then you have Wimbledon. Some players, they just play one. You try one tournament and then you go straight to Grand Slam," she added.
The 31-year-old then stated that the grass-court Major is a tournament in which a player can win by playing their shots confidently even with their eyes closed. Pliskova believes Wimbledon favors aggressive players such as Elena Rybakina, the 2022 champion.
"I feel like there is not enough time to really like find the timing. I think sometimes can be lucky. Sometimes you just, of course, like Wimbledon is a tournament where you can play, you can close your eyes and you can, I mean, win it," Pliskova said.
"You know, not like Rybakina would do it, but for players like this, which are playing aggressive, I think that's the tournament where she can have really good two weeks and she can easily win it," she added.
Karolina Pliskova will next square off against Donna Vekic in the Stuttgart Open 2023
Karolina Pliskova will next face Donna Vekic in the Round of 16 at the 2023 Stuttgart Open. Vekic is coming in on the back of a solid win over Russian Ekaterina Alexandrova.
The match will take place on Thursday (April 20). Pliskova will be attempting to win her first title of the season, while Vekic will be attempting to win her second after the Monterrey Open in March.