Iga Świątek exits Wimbledon in third round, set to fall out of WTA top five after 44-error loss to Alexandra Eala
Defending champion Iga Świątek lost 6-7(9), 2-6 to the Philippines' Alexandra Eala in the third round, a defeat that will drop her from the WTA top five and leaves her season's best at a Rome semifinal.
Defeat and ranking fallout
Iga Świątek's Wimbledon title defence ended abruptly on Saturday when she fell to world No. 29 Alexandra Eala 6-7(9), 2-6. The Pole was defending 2,000 ranking points from her 2025 triumph and will leave London with just 130, a loss that guarantees she slips out of the top five. Jessica Pegula, Coco Gauff and Mirra Andreeva are already certain to overtake her; Amanda Anisimova, the 2025 runner-up, also lost in the third round, but Karolina Muchova could push Świątek down to seventh if the Czech reaches the semifinals.
Świątek's best result this season remains a semifinal in Rome. In the WTA Race to the Finals she sits 11th and is likely to fall further after Wimbledon, raising the possibility of missing the season-ending WTA Finals for the first time since her debut year in 2019.
Świątek's candid press conference
After the match, the six-time Grand Slam champion told reporters she has stopped chasing results.
I don't care about results anymore. I was so focused on them that it was hard to function. I'm really trying to let go. I'm not getting good results, so I won't expect them from myself, because they just aren't coming. I'm not at that level yet. I have to start from scratch and just try to improve my tennis.
She added that she still enjoys playing and that the feeling of not being able to give up is motivation enough. The Tennis Podcast's Catherine Whitaker described the tone as resigned.
BBC commentator David Law questioned whether the problem lies with her methods or her team.It was sad to hear how resigned she is, how at peace she seems with her new place in the tennis world. She seems lost.
On-court struggles
Świątek committed 44 unforced errors, an average of two per game, and repeatedly mishit routine volleys. She struggled to read Eala's unusually slow serve, which averaged 140 km/h compared to Świątek's 165 km/h and Aryna Sabalenka's 178 km/h.
I really can't explain the framed drive volleys. I usually hit them well. That's life.
In the first-set tie-break she held two set points on Eala's serve but lost both, then dropped her own serve at 9-9 before Eala closed out the set. Her frustration was visible: cameras captured her throwing her racket, shouting and covering her head with a towel during a changeover at 1-4 in the second set.
- Świątek holds two set points on Eala's serve but fails to convert.
- Serving at 9-9, Świątek loses the point; Eala wins the next two to take the set 7-6(9).
- Świątek covers her head with a towel during a changeover, visibly frustrated.
- Eala breaks Świątek's serve to close out the second set 6-2 and win the match.
Team dynamics under scrutiny
Former coach Michał Kaznowski noted that Świątek appeared to be fighting herself more than her opponent.
He observed that coach Francisco Roig tried to encourage her to hit down the line, but she hesitated after one failed attempt.I had the impression that Iga was struggling not so much with her opponent as with herself. That was an uneven fight. That's where her frustrations and racket throwing came from.
Pam Shriver, commentating for BBC Radio 5 Live, pointed out that psychologist Daria Abramowicz was the most vocal member of the box, while the head coach was quieter than expected in a crisis.
The person in Iga Świątek's box who speaks the most is psychologist Daria Abramowicz. She's been in her team the longest, but usually in moments like this you expect the head coach to say something.
What's next
Hubert Hurkacz is now the only Polish singles player left in the draw; he faces Jan-Lennard Struff in the fourth round. Świątek will head to the North American hard-court swing, where she defends a round-of-16 result at the Canadian Open and a title in Cincinnati (1,000 points), followed by a US Open quarterfinal (430 points). With her current form, a slide out of the top ten by late summer is a realistic scenario.
