Wimbledon deny Katie Swan’s ‘dream’ request after outlasting each Brit | Tennis | Sport

Katie Swan became the first Brit to win a match at Wimbledon this year, but unfortunately for the nation, she was the last woman to reach the second round of singles. In turn, she hoped to be granted a special request by the decision-makers at SW19. However, the 27-year-old has been denied the chance to play on the grandest stage of all of tennis.

Having glided past Irina-Camelia Begu 6-4 6-4 on Tuesday, Swan was rewarded with a second-round tie with Madison Keys, a two-time quarter-finalist here and the 2025 Australian Open champion. On a first Thursday with a line-up that lacks starpower, relative to the previous three days, Swan could be forgiven for thinking she had a chance of playing on Centre Court.

When asked about the prospect of playing on Centre, she said: “That would be an unbelievable experience for me to play on Centre. I think the biggest court I have played on is two, against [Belinda] Bencic a few years ago.

“Look, I’ll be happy with whatever court I get. Playing at Wimbledon is amazing in itself. I guess I’ll wait and see what the schedule says. I mean, yes, obviously playing on Centre would be a dream.”

However, Swan was denied that dream as the Wimbledon organisers instead put her on Court 1, which is the biggest stage of her career so far.

Instead, they have decided to put reigning champion Iga Swiatek on the main show court at the same time, as she continues her title defence against Karolina Pliskova.

The men’s singles then take over the middle session as 20th seed Arthur Fils takes on Matteo Berrettini.

Then the women’s section have the night match, with 2022 champion Elena Rybakina facing Caty McNally.

But regardless of the court she is on, Swan will have the British support on her side, something she will hope to utilise for further success at the championship.

“I tried to use them a bit today when I broke in the second set, to try to get them going, and it worked,” she said of the crowd on Tuesday. “That was good fun.

“It means a lot to me to have the support of the crowd. In the end, I could really hear them. I was trying to stay focused myself, as well, because there was a lot of emotions going on in my head.

“But I could hear the sound of everyone as excited as I was to get through that match. So that was really fun.”