Rarely has a multiple grand slam winner been in floods of tears after winning a first round match at Wimbledon. Then again, Iga Swiatek has always been a little out of the box. Brilliant but introverted, fragile yet sublime.
No sooner had last year’s champion offered a victory fist to Centre Court after overcoming the American Taylor Townsend 6-1, 2-6, 6-3 than the eyes began to water and her Wimbledon towel began to take a soaking. Yet afterwards Swiatek wasn’t entirely able to explain why.
“I think the whole process of opening the court and playing as a defending champion is for sure really emotional,” she said. “Last year probably the most amazing thing in my tennis career happened here. So I felt it today.”
Only twice before in the Open era has a women’s defending champion lost in the first round at Wimbledon: Steffi Graf back in the 90s, and Marketa Vondrousova two years ago. But there were times where Swiatek looked dangerously close to following them.
And for all her extraordinary talents, there is increasingly a touch of the Dr Jekyll and Mr Hydes about the world No 3. Which one, we wondered, would show up against Townsend? The superstar with six grand slams to her name? Or the player often prone to abrupt slumps in confidence and with an unremarkable 21-11 win/loss record this year?
The answer, it turned out, was both. In the first set, Swiatek was sensational. Having saved five points in her first service game, she won six games on the spin to race through the opener in 31 minutes. At this point, she had hit 11 winners to four unforced errors and was looking both majestic and relaxed.
Yet in the second set, Mr Hyde suddenly showed up. From out of nowhere there were double faults, sprayed forehands, anxious looks up to her box. Swiatek lost the first four games and then dropped the set without much of a struggle, having hit four winners to 16 unforced errors.
At this point Swiatek looked worried. Keen tennis observers were also pointing to the fact that she had lost seven out of her past eight three-set matches. The Pole, understandably, was feeling the pressure too – although she credited Townsend for also applying the squeeze and raising her game.
“I also felt like at the beginning of the second set, Taylor pushed a little harder and she went to the net more successfully compared to some volleys that she missed in the first set,” she said. “There are always two people playing. You know, if she wouldn’t push, maybe I wouldn’t make these mistakes.
“I felt like at the end of the second set it was a more even game. It’s not like I was playing stupid or something. So I had something to be positive about, and I went into the third set, like, knowing that, OK, now we start from the beginning.”
In the build up to these championships, Swiatek had talked about her friendship with the US skier Lindsey Vonn, who she said had taught her to be courageous and to handle pressure. In the opening game of the final set she had to display all of that and more.
It turned into a 21-minute epic – which Swiatek said changed the course of the match. Four times she faced break points. Four times she clung on. In that game alone she served three double faults, missed numerous makeable shots, and yet survived before breaking at 3-2 to move clear. There was still the odd bump after that, but Swiatek was eventually able to come through in just over two hours.
Incredibly, a woman has not defended the singles’ title here since 2016, when Serena Williams lifted the Venus Rosewater dish. Plenty have tried. None have got close. But after this close escape, Swiatek will hope to buck the trend. But she knows she faces a draw from hell to reach the latter stages.
It starts with the former finalist Karolina Pliskova next. After that she will potentially face Serena Williams or Alexandra Eala in the third round, while Marta Kostyuk, Elina Svitolina and Elena Rybakina all potentially lie in wait before the final too.
However Swiatek believes that if she finds her consistency and controls her nerves, she can be there at the business end of the tournament. “I know I have this game with me, so I just needed to be more sharp, keep my margins bigger, and not take too much risk,” she said.
“I am happy I can get through a match like that because I got nervous in the second set but I was able to get back to my game. I was able to change things around. With my game I feel pretty well. It’s just a matter of consistency.”
