Wimbledon

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Wimbledon recap Day 2: Iga Świątek rides her serve rollercoaster on Centre Court return

Iga Świątek hits a serve on a packed tennis court.

Iga Świątek had a mind-bending day with the serve in her first-round match against Taylor Townsend on Tuesday. Eamonn Dalton / The Athletic; Cameron Spencer / Getty Images

By Ava Wallace, Charlie Eccleshare and Matthew FuttermanJune 30, 2026 7:34 pm EDT Updated

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Welcome to the Wimbledon briefing, where The Athletic will explain the stories behind the stories on each day of the tournament.

On Day 2, a defending champion rode a roller coaster, one player blocked out the haters and a whole lot of women’s seeds escaped jeopardy.

How did a defending champion serve up a roller coaster?

At the venue where she settled into the best serving rhythm of her career last year, Iga Świątek offered another reminder Tuesday of why the shot is such a bellwether for her game.

Świątek has struggled badly with her serve for much of the year. She made a slight adjustment in the spring, bending her right arm at the elbow earlier in her swing to abbreviate it and try to get more power. But it remains too prone to providing a platform for her baseline game one moment and destabilizing it the next.

She has longed to return it to the potency of last year’s Wimbledon run, when she won a tournament-leading 90 percent of her service games.

Back at the All England Club as the defending champion, Świątek had a mind-bending day with the serve in her first-round match against Taylor Townsend on Tuesday. Having worked effectively in the first set, it plumbed such depths that it looked as though Świątek was about to become just the third defending Wimbledon women’s champion since the start of the Open Era in 1968 to lose in the first round.

Three storylines to watch at WimbledonMatt Futterman

The 25-year-old from Poland hit four double faults in the second set, including one on the way to being broken for 1-0, and then a couple more as Townsend went up 3-0. She looked to be having issues with her toss, and as can happen with Świątek, once the serve went, the rest of her game spiraled, with errors leaking from the baseline and seemingly every adjustment she tried not working.

She also generally served with too much predictability, very rarely deviating from hitting to the Townsend backhand or occasionally to the body. On the ad side, Świątek hit just two serves to the widest third of the box on Townsend’s forehand side all match, according to data from the All England Lawn Tennis Club Tennis Insights Service.

But Świątek found her rhythm again in the third set and was able to exert enough pressure on Townsend to close out a 6-1, 2-6, 6-3 win.

With her father and sister watching on in the Royal Box, Świątek was tearful when the match finished. She explained, in a news conference afterward, that the emotion of opening proceedings on Day 2 as the defending champion, per tournament tradition, had been a big factor in the additional stress she was feeling.

Świątek said that those tensions crystallized in the serve. “You can sometimes see (the tension) on the serve,” she said. “The quality goes down. But I think you can see that in many players, because serve is the most complicated motion. It’s easy to mess it up a little bit.”

Świątek will next test the quality of her serving against one of the game’s best: 2021 Wimbledon finalist Karolína Plíšková of the Czech Republic.

— Charlie Eccleshare

Why did one player put in some earplugs?

Earlier this year, British wild card Arthur Fery started using earplugs to block out the noise during one of his matches. And on Tuesday at Wimbledon, he went low-key viral for using them to block out the complaints of his opponent, Bosnian Damir Džumhur, in his first-round comeback win.

After taking the first set 6-3, Džumhur was fuming when a let was not called by umpire Greg Allensworth on one of his serves during the second set.

“It’s very tough to play with somebody who doesn’t do his job good,” Džumhur, who went on to win just three games after his outburst in a 3-6, 6-2, 6-2, 6-1 defeat, shouted.

“I am sure you are aware of it, I don’t know if you play tennis or not, I don’t know how big this is for every player, but here they have to be at the highest level.”

During Džumhur’s rant, Fery put bright orange earplugs in as he tucked into some fruit.

Arthur Fery put his earplugs in while his opponent, Damir Dzumhur, argued with the umpire during their Wimbledon first-round match 😅 pic.twitter.com/wBhuU3JRWK

— BBC Sport (@BBCSport) June 30, 2026

“I don’t use them every match,” Fery, the world No. 114, said in his news conference. “It helps me as well. Not just for the opponent, but just in general for the crowd, and keeps me in my zone.

“I always carry an eye mask and earplugs in case I have a nap during the day or it rains and I’m stuck at the club. I can’t remember where exactly, but start of this year I was in a match and I knew they were in my bag. And I was frustrated with the noise around me at change of ends, so I just put them in. From then on I just kept them in my bag and use them from time to time. I find it helpful.”

Fery will face Finnish qualifier Otto Virtanen in the second round on Thursday, and his earplugs will be ready to go should he need them, against the player who defeated fourth seed Ben Shelton.

— Caoimhe O’Neill

How did women’s seeds go the distance — and prevail?

How much will Wimbledon change the power balance on the women’s tour in two weeks’ time? Arguably a lot, especially if another woman not named Aryna Sabalenka, Elena Rybakina, Coco Gauff or Iga Świątek triumphs in the second straight Grand Slam tournament. If that happens, there’s a strong argument that the group of four that’s ruled over women’s tennis for the past few years is loosening its grip.

At the same time, Wimbledon is always a little wacky. Chalk it up to the short length of the grass-court season, or how short of a break there is after the French Open, but eight different women have won Wimbledon over the past eight years. Serena Williams was the last repeat winner in 2016.

Still, six seeded women who played Tuesday had to grind out victories in three sets, including Świątek, 2022 champion Elena Rybakina (who beat Loïs Boisson) and No. 26 seed Madison Keys (who beat Kayla Day). Świątek and Rybakina in particular have struggled to find their best, most consistent play over the past few months.

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There was one contender who looked rock solid: last year’s finalist and this year’s No. 6 seed Amanda Anisimova, who took care of business against Lina Gjorcheska, 6-3, 6-2. She and No. 9 Linda Nosková were the only top-10 seeded players to win in straight sets. One such player, No. 8 Elina Svitolina, suffered a shock loss to her compatriot Daria Snigur.

Keep an eye on Anisimova. After struggling with a wrist injury and undergoing a coaching change earlier this year, the American said she’s feeling refreshed thanks to a last-minute decision to fly back home to the United States after losing early at the HSBC Championships, the grass-court tournament she played ahead of Wimbledon. It made her feel a touch of guilt traveling home only to fly right back to London five days later, given the cost of airfare these days, but she has no regrets.

— Ava Wallace

Other notable results on Day 2:

2021 Wimbledon finalist Matteo Berrettini defeated 41-year old Stan Wawrinka (WC) in an absurd match on No. 1 Court, winning three of four tiebreaks, one of which went to 34 points. The Italian defeated the Swiss 6-7(7), 7-6(16), 7-6(7), 7-6(5).
Filipino rising star Alex Eala (29) continued to prove her grass credentials, beating Mexico’s Renata Zarazúa 6-1, 6-2.
French Open champion Alexander Zverev (3) overcame a spirited Alexander Blockx of Belgium on Centre Court. The German triumphed 6-4, 6-7(8), 7-6(5), 7-6(0).

Shot of the day

122 mph serve? Yes, it’s still there for Serena Williams at 44, even in an eventual 6-3, 6-7(6), 6-3 defeat to 20-year-old Maya Joint of Australia.

(BBC)

Drop Shots

🌱 Ben Shelton’s first-round loss at Wimbledon was in the post, because his wins on grass lately have been dangerous ones.

🗓️ How elite athletes like Williams return to the arena in their 40s.

⭐ Tennis players often have to face idols or heroes across the net. How do they cope?

🏆 The trophies, numbers and unbelievable data that make up the first part of Williams’ career.

Up next: Second round

🎾 Men’s singles: Kwon Soon-woo (Q) vs. Tommy Paul (21)

6 a.m. ET on ESPN Unlimited

Kwon, 28, came through Wimbledon qualifying, but his route to the tournament has been even more complicated than that. He had to complete compulsory military service in South Korea, which interrupted a career in which he memorably took a set off Novak Djokovic on Centre Court in 2022. After 18 months away, he isn’t quite on Centre Court again, but his flashy tennis and foot speed should give Paul of the U.S., who loves a high-octane match, some trouble.

🎾 Women’s singles: Barbora Krejčíková vs. Mirra Andreeva (5)

11:30 a.m. ET on ESPN, ESPN Unlimited

Andreeva, the French Open champion, faces a nightmare second-round draw in the shape of 2024 Wimbledon champion Krejčíková. The 19-year-old Russian is the favorite given her form, but Krejčíková, 30, is a fearsome opponent on grass and will enter the match unburdened by pressure. Andreeva will need her potent serve to earn her free points, while the Czech Republic’s Krejčíková will look to break her opponent’s rhythm.

🎾 Women’s singles: Tatjana Maria vs. Iva Jović (16)

Not before 11:30 a.m. / p.m. ET on ESPN Unlimited

Jović, the 18-year-old American, has the controlled aggressiveness and footwork intensity to thrive on grass. Beating 38-year-old Maria, the 2025 Queen’s champion, would be a serious statement of intent. The German took down the likes of Amanda Anisimova, Elena Rybakina and Madison Keys to win Queen’s last year, and her slicing on both wings can completely bamboozle opponents. The match will be a huge test of Jović’s focus.

🎾 Men’s singles: Stefanos Tsitsipas vs. Novak Djokovic (7)

12:30 p.m. ET on ESPN, ESPN Unlimited

Twice a Grand Slam final, at the 2021 French Open and the 2023 Australian Open, Tsitsipas and Djokovic now meet as they try to rage against the dying of the light. Tsitsipas, the 27-year-old Greek, wants to return to the upper echelons of the sport after injuries; Djokovic, the 39-year-old with 24 Grand Slam titles, wants to show that he is still the master of the Wimbledon grass. Hope for an attacking, engrossing meeting between two of the most compelling names in the men’s game.