Sometimes Iga Swiatek can find a turn of phrase as poetic and illuminating as anything she is capable of with a racket in her hand – as she did a while back, when she said: “I feel the ball is listening to me.”

Funnily enough, on that day the five-time Grand Slam champion wasn’t describing a match on grass. On the pesky greensward, the ball can seem to be following her every instruction one moment, before turning selectively stone deaf to her entreaties while hobnobbing cosily with her opponent the next.

In evidence, see Exhibit A – the first set of her second round match at Wimbledon 2025 against Caty McNally. Ultimately the Pole came through 5-7, 6-2, 6-1 to reach the third round for the fifth time. But that first chapter was a right puzzle.

It began with Swiatek and the ball exchanging devoted sweet nothings, as she darted out to 3-0 in 11 minutes. Crikey, we thought, that runner-up spot she earned in Bad Homburg last month has worked wonders.

(And by the way, who would have imagined that the oft-repeated statistic of the last year or so – the one about Swiatek’s long wait to reach another final after her 2024 Roland-Garros triumph – would eventually be consigned to the bin on, of all surfaces, grass?)

It looked like her encounter with McNally could be over in record time. But Swiatek’s chatty sometime friend, the ball, had other ideas. It abruptly ghosted her, loudly declaring allegiance to the American instead.

Or as Swiatek put it later: “I lost my intensity. I lost the quality, did some unforced errors, let her back in the game.”

Fortunately for the No.8 seed, the ball rapidly tired of its newfound love-in with McNally and reverted to the original plan, after which Swiatek was in total command. But the switchback events perfectly illustrated that for the Pole, the outcome on grass remains unpredictable.

It is no surprise that Wimbledon is her least successful Slam. Her best here is a solitary quarter-final in 2023, with a win/loss ratio after this match of 12-5.

(Of course, this is not exactly a record to be ashamed of, and the “least successful” classification can easily be exposed as not all that meaningful, depending on the player. After all, Roland-Garros is Novak Djokovic’s “least successful” Slam, on the basis that he has lifted the Coupe des Mousquetaires a mere three times. Tsk.)

Yet against McNally, there were phases when she looked very nearly relaxed.

It was a contrast to those times when her frequent tugging at the peak of her cap can appear fretful, as if she would prefer her headwear to be an armorial visor which could be closed altogether, the better to shield her from bad outcomes.

Observers might purse their lips and comment, “Yes, but…” about McNally’s current ranking of 208 (playing here on a protected ranking of 71).

Actually the 23-year-old American was at No.54 two years ago, before injuries saw her plunge to 1,020 last year.

It’s not often McNally gets to say that she has outlasted her old doubles buddy Coco Gauff (they were 2021 US Open finalists) in a Grand Slam singles, so kudos to her that she did so here.

Speaking of Gauff, had the seedings panned out, the world No.2 was looming as Swiatek’s quarter-final opponent.

As it is, in theory the 2022 Wimbledon champion Elena Rybakina may yet be a severe last-16 test of the Pole’s budding confidence on grass. But to get that far, Swiatek must beat the former world No.7 Danielle Collins in the third round.

The ball may have to listen very intently to the No.8 seed’s wisest counsel if she is to keep progressing this Fortnight.