"Rafael Nadal will definitely play next year";"Iga Swiatek could've won": Fans amused to see Centre Court without grass as Wimbledon prepares for 2025

Tennis fans were reminded of Rafael Nadal and Iga Swiatek after recently seeing Centre Court without grass as Wimbledon began preparing the surface for 2025. The grass courts at SW19 are regrown from scratch after an edition of the competition concludes as the surface gets damaged from the play during the fortnight.

The proceedings at Wimbledon this year ended with the crownings of Carlos Alcaraz in men's singles, Barbora Krejcikova in women's singles, Harri Heliovaara and Henry Patten in men's doubles, Katerina Siniakova and Taylor Townsend in women's doubles, and Hsieh Su-Wei and Jan Zielinski in mixed doubles.

Days after the conclusion, Wimbledon took to X (formerly Twitter) and posted a photograph of a barren Centre Court to amuse tennis fans.

"Preparations for The Championships 2025 have begun n Centre Court," Wimbledon captioned the post.

Fans suggested the new look made Centre Court resemble the surfaces at Roland Garros, a place where Rafael Nadal has found immense success and Iga Swiatek is well poised to imitate the Spaniard's exploits.

At Wimbledon, however, the two have found little or no success. The Spaniard hasn't won the Championships after claiming his second title in 2010 and hasn't played there in the last two editions, whereas the Pole searches for her maiden glory in London. Fans believe the equations could change if the curators left Centre Court with no grass for the 2025 edition.

"Keep it like this and Rafael Nadal will definitely play next year," a fan wrote.

"If Wimbledon court like this Iga could [have] easily won it," wrote another.

Here are a few more reactions from X:

"Let Iga play now," a fan wrote.

"Gonna be atrocious after two days of playing it’s not worth the effort," a fan remarked.

"Nadal might have a chance on that surface," a fan wrote.

"Prepping the grass for a whole year only for it to get ruined by day 2 of Wimbledon," a fan commented.

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Rafael Nadal hasn't made Wimbledon final since 2011, reaching quarterfinals in 2023 is Iga Swiatek's best result

Iga Swiatek (Getty)

Rafael Nadal ended as the second-best to Roger Federer at the Wimbledon Championships in 2006 and 2007 before beating the Swiss in the 2008 final. He doubled his tally by downing Tomas Berdych in the 2010 summit clash.

In 2011, Nadal reached the final again but was stopped by Novak Djokovic and since then, he hasn't been able to make another final at SW19. His best performances afterwards include semifinal finishes in 2018, 2019, and 2022 (injury withdrawal).

Iga Swiatek, on the other hand, is yet to play the Wimbledon final. She debuted at the London Major in 2019 and lost in the first round that year. She made it as far as the fourth round in 2021, the third round in 2022, and the quarterfinals in 2023. In this year's edition, she lost 3-6, 6-1, 6-2 to Yulia Putintseva in the third round.