Wimbledon champion Iga Swiatek breaks down in tears on court immediately after match | Tennis | Sport

Reigning Wimbledon champion Iga Swiatek was in tears after surviving a huge scare in her first-round match. The Polish star had not even dropped a set in an opening match at a Grand Slam tournament in six years, but found herself on the verge of defeat while facing Taylor Townsend on Centre Court.

After racing through the first set, Townsend took the second to force a decider, while the errors started to pile up for the 2025 winner. Swiatek was also broken when leading 4-2 in the final set. But she recovered to win 6-1 2-6 6-3, and then burst into tears at her bench.

It was night and day from Swiatek’s previous match on Centre Court, when she beat Amanda Anisimova 6-0 6-0 in last year’s final – the first ‘double bagel’ in a Wimbledon women’s final since 1911.

As is tradition at the All England Club, as the defending women’s champion, Swiatek opened play on Centre Court on the first Tuesday of the Championships. It was smooth sailing at the beginning, and the Pole looked on her way to another ruthless victory.

Swiatek won six games in a row to take the first set 6-1 in around half an hour, hitting just four unforced errors to 11 from Townsend. But momentum flipped in set two, as the American stormed into a 4-0 lead, the defending champion suddenly looking out of her depth.

The third seed quadrupled her unforced error count from the first set, hitting 16 in the second, while Townsend only made seven. Swiatek left the court for a comfort break before starting the decider, and was the first to break.

At 4-2 30-30, Swiatek hit a double fault and followed it up with another error to get broken. But the six-time Grand Slam champion dug deep and didn’t lose another game, immediately breaking Townsend again and closing out the match.

The tough three-set test took its toll on the defending champion, who buried her head in her towel immediately as she sat down at her bench, letting her emotions flow. After moving the towel away, it was clear that Swiatek had been crying, as tears were left across her face.

“I’m not sure if I’m able to talk that much. But no, just, it was a tough couple of weeks and… Not a season where everything went how I wanted,” the former world No. 1 told the Centre Court crowd afterwards.

“I don’t think I won any, like, three-set match this year, so I’m happy that I could do it here. Obviously it means a lot opening the court as defending champion. I’m just happy to be here.”

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