Throwing rackets, elaborate hand gestures, and having verbal jibes with the coach. It was not a pretty scene on Center Court, as defending champion Iga Swiatek‘s Wimbledon title defense came to a halt with a loss against Alexandra Eala in the third round. This is the second time that the Pole has suffered a loss to the Filipino player in their three meetings, but this loss’s impact was much deeper.

Back when Swiatek was winning almost everything in the 2022-2024 period, the Pole hardly looked bothered on court and showed amazing powers of concentration, something that has not been visible in recent matches, with the Pole losing leads and not on show in her match against Eala.

The Pole was seen gesturing towards her coach, Francisco Roig, venting out her frustrations. To this, the veteran Spanish coach replied, “She is not beating you, you are losing.”

The key metrics from the match show that Roig was not far off, as Swiatek made 44 unforced errors across only two sets, and the Pole was broken five times. It was not that she was not getting chances to hit back at Eala’s serve, but she could convert only 3 of the 11 break-point opportunities she got in the whole match. Even in the last game of the match, where it was Eala’s match to serve out, Swiatek had multiple break points and even saved match points, but all to no avail, as unforced errors kept coming from her racket, which saw her crash out to a loss.

The verbal confrontation Iga had with Roig is significant, given that they joined forces in April. The focus of this partnership was to restore her original topspin game, with more margin for error, replacing the flat groundstrokes she had developed during her tenure with Wim Fisette, which culminated in her SW19 win last year. Roig has been part of Rafael Nadal’s team for a long time, but he was never one of the main forces, a role he previously held with Emma Raducanu and now with Swiatek.

With this loss, it remains to be seen if Iga continues her collaboration with Roig, as the Pole had already stated that this was a trial and that the Spaniard was not working full-time with her. She hinted at changes after Wimbledon, and now, with this loss, it remains to be seen in which direction she will go.

In the match itself, Swiatek did not look settled in the first set, going down 3-5. She staved off a set point to take it to a tiebreak, where she lost it 11-9, despite having two set points herself.

It all unraveled rather fast in the second set for the Pole, where she lost her serve three times, giving Eala a huge advantage. Even though the World No.3 showed some resistance at the end, it was the Filipino’s day who reached her maiden second week at a Grand Slam. With this loss, Swiatek has slipped to No.6 on the live rankings, and there is a chance she might fall further down should Amanda Anisimova and Karolina Muchova have deep runs at Wimbledon.