Iga Swiatek is rarely the most bullish of people, but it was striking how hesitant she sounded on the eve of her Wimbledon title defence. The Pole had stunned many, including herself, by her romp to the crown last year, on what had long been considered her worst surface.
But the issues that have seeped into her game over the last couple of seasons – the mental fragility, the serving yips – weren’t solved by that triumph, and they certainly haven’t been after another indifferent first half of this year.
Asked about her return to SW19, she said candidly: “I’m going to look at it in a realistic way. Obviously, yeah, last year’s grass season was great. But it’s not like I always felt amazing on grass, so…
“Even though I won, I still feel like I have stuff to figure out. I feel like I’m starting from a totally different position and I’m really in a place that I’m keeping my expectations low. It’s not going to be smooth because of last year.”
They were prophetic words. On the first day of her title defence, a glorious summer’s day on Centre Court, she was given an almighty scare by the unfancied world No 81 Taylor Townsend, before recovering to win 6-1 2-6 6-3.
Townsend was fresh from winning the women’s doubles title at the French Open but has never gone beyond the second round of Wimbledon and has had a middling season in singles so far. But her variety, pace and aggression made her a less than ideal first-round opponent for Swiatek, who looked frozen on serve and equal parts frustrated and furious with herself throughout their encounter.
In the end the Pole’s experience told and she capitalised on a dip in Townsend’s level after the American failed to break her in a mammoth, 21-minute first game of the deciding set – 10 minutes shorter than the entire first set.
Having survived nine deuces and four break points Swiatek regrouped, coming to the net more, trusting her shots more, and letting herself swing with the easy power that doesn’t always come naturally anymore.
Momentum continued to swing, with the pair trading breaks for 4-3, but Swiatek broke once more and served more solidly, ending the match with an ace down the T.
The pressure that had weighed her down was evident as she covered her face with a towel and appeared to sob with relief, and she gave an uncharacteristically emotional on-court interview, saying: “I’m not sure if I’m able to talk that much. But it was a tough couple of weeks. Not a season where everything went how I wanted. I don’t think I won any three set match this year. I’m happy I could do it here. It means a lot opening the court as defending champion.”
She told press later: “The whole process of opening the court and playing as a defending champion is for sure really emotional. Last year probably the most amazing thing in my tennis career happened here. So I felt it also today.”
There were early warning signs as she saved break points in her opening service game, before running away with the first set 6-1. Townsend responded by doubling the aggression, adjusting her return position to stand almost two feet inside the baseline on the crumbling Swiatek second serve, and she was rewarded, racing to a 4-0 lead.
Swiatek made just four errors in the first set, but made 10 by that point in the second, and cut a gloomy figure. She waved her arms in frustration and looked pleadingly up at her box. As she so often does she tightened up, ramping up the aggression, as if just pummelling the ball harder and harder would keep it within the lines. It did not.
Townsend fired down an ace to take the set and held up a clenched fist to her box, while Swiatek made a beeline off court. The break did her no good; two double faults in her all-important first service game of the deciding set brought up a break point for Townsend. Swiatek’s ball toss troubled her and she looked hesitant, freezing in her service motion with one leg suspended in the air as if just waiting for it to be called out.
A third double fault led her to cover her face with her hand, but Townsend failed to make a breakthrough despite having four break points, and it proved a turning point.
A freer-swinging Swiatek ran back and forth at the baseline as she prepared for Townsend to serve, thumping imaginary forehands and backhands and fist pumping to herself, and whatever pep talk she gave herself seemed to work. Even dropping serve for 4-3 with another double fault – her ninth of the match – didn’t unsettle her, as a stunning cross-court strike to break back put her back in front.
She said later: “Maybe it wasn’t so easy for me to accept that I was losing some sets this year, especially that some of them just slipped out of my hands a little bit. But today I had more calm in the third to overcome this and I knew how to play, so I really leaned on that.
“I know I have this [top-level] game with me, so I just needed to be more sharp and maybe not, like, keep my margins bigger, not take too much risk.”
The relief as she fired down just her second ace to seal the match was palpable. But like Jannik Sinner’s unexpected five-set battle on Monday, it was an unconvincing start to a title defence, and one that will give her rivals – like Naomi Osaka, a close friend of Townsend’s and guest in her box – further glimmers of hope.
As has been the case for every women’s singles winner at Wimbledon since 2016, it’s one thing to win the tournament; it’s quite another task to do it again.
