'Emotional' Iga Swiatek feeling 'toll' of trying to recapture 'how she was' after Wimbledon opening win over Taylor Townsend
Updated 30/06/2026 at 19:10 GMT+1
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Iga Swiatek battled incredibly hard to emerge victorious over Taylor Townsend on Centre Court on Tuesday, and afterwards broke down in tears in her chair. Johanna Konta said the Polish star was likely feeling the "toll" of trying to rediscover her form after a difficult year to date.
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Video credit: SNTV
Swiatek, a six-time Grand Slam champion, hasn't gone past the quarter-finals at either of the first two majors this season, and once again looked out of sorts at times against Townsend as she began the defence of her Wimbledon title, especially when losing the second set.
But she rebounded in fine style, overcoming her demons to book a place in the second round.
Afterwards, she opened up on what had made the encounter particularly challenging.
"I think the whole process of opening the court and playing as a defending champion is, for sure, really emotional," Swiatek said.
"Last year, probably the most amazing thing in my tennis career happened here. So I felt it also today.
"But, you know, it was a mix of different emotions. Overall, I'm happy that I got the win, and I can have another chance to play on this court."
Watching the encounter for TNT Sports was Johanna Konta, and the former world No. 4 suggested that Swiatek's tears were a facet of the "toll" she has faced in wrestling with her game.
"That's probably also a part of all that pent-up emotion that we saw, the release from Iga at the end of that match," Konta said.
"I think she's probably feeling the toll of really putting herself out there, and trying to go back to how she was, level-wise, consistency-wise, but also moving forwards.
"She's an emotional player, I think that's the one thing that we don't necessarily understand as much about Iga, that there's a lot of emotion she's trying to contain.
"And so I think for her to come through a tough battle like that, where she was most likely feeling quite uncomfortable, for her to come through like that, I think that release just shows how much she was trying to keep it together."
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Konta expanded on what she felt, ultimately, got Swiatek through.
"She came out with intensity, but I think that is what we generally expect with Iga," Konta said.
"In the recent past it's mainly been about how can she sustain that, and how can she sustain that with her level.
"And recently that's where she's struggled a little bit. We saw in the second set how her forehand quality did drop.
"That's where an opponent like Taylor Townsend is really tricky, because she really makes it uncomfortable out there.
"But Iga's an incredible competitor, which is, I think, why she was able to really stick with it through that three-set match."
After emerging through her tough first-round test, Swiatek will face another high-class opponent on Thursday in Karolina Pliskova, with the 34-year-old Czech having reached the Wimbledon final back in 2021.
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