"Swiatek, quite frankly, was not good emotionally" - Iga Swiatek offered brutal analysis following harrowing Eala loss

It is going from bad to worse for Iga Swiatek. Her recent poor form has been compounded by a dreadful title defence at Wimbledon in which she suffered a third round exit to Alexandra Eala, losing 7-6(9), 6-2. Martina Navratilova did not hold back on her analysis of the six-time Grand Slam champion with her game ruthlessly picked apart.

It has been almost a year since Swiatek last reached a WTA final. Following a slow start to 2025 where she came to Wimbledon as the eighth seed, she would stun the tennis world following a scintillating campaign on an unfavourable surface to win the title, winning the final 20 games enroute to her latest major title.

She would win the Cincinnati Open and Korea Open title in a brilliant burst, reminding everyone of her talent on court while climbing back to world number two. Since then, she has not lived up to those numbers and hype.

Finals and titles were once a regular occurrence for Swiatek who had dominated the sport for a couple of years. However, this has since become a rarity. Her level has dipped back down, and she is suffering due to it.

Her latest setback comes at Wimbledon. She was pushed to tears at the end of her match against Taylor Townsend following a tense and dramatic battle. It was much easier against former finalist Karolina Pliskova as she set up a hugely intriguing contest against young talent Alexandra Eala.

Eala missed set points as Swiatek forced a tiebreak before more chances for both players came and went. The Filipina kept her cool and eventually got over the line. From then on, Swiatek was shell-shocked and could not keep up. While Eala was playing at a high level, the 24-year-old struggled to find any form on court and inevitably was punished for this. She exits the latest Grand Slam tournament in another bitter blow while missing another golden opportunity with a number of the best players in the world also faltering.

Trying to put her finger on what happened, Navratilova analysed her game plan and why that was not executed at a high enough standard, citing her emotional state.

“Today, I think the recipe was to mix up the serves," she began. "Hit a lot of body serves into the Swiatek forehand or backhand, and she just could not figure out how to return better serves. She did not get those break points, and she defended really well.

“And Swiatek, quite frankly, was not good emotionally. She was just so up and down; she could not keep it together today.”

Jim Courier joined the discussion, asking the 18-time Grand Slam champion: “What’s going on with her forehand, though?” Swiatek's forehand completely collapsed in the second set, one of the main reasons why Eala managed to get on top of her, feasting on the unforced errors that was piling up for the Pole.

He added some more context. “I mean, that shot is a devastating shot, typically, and granted, grass is very different than her best surface clay for that shot; it gets on you faster, it stays lower, but she missed a lot of rally balls today that were on big points.”

Navratilova could not directly answer that question pitched at her but had a theory on it. “Well, it seems to me in the past, when she has got nervous in the point, and she would overhit, she would still swing or mis-hit, but now she’s decelerating, and with that grip, when you decelerate you’re dead. So I think that’s where the errors are coming from.”

Swiatek is desperate to find her prior self on court. The North American hardcourt swing offers another route back to the top of the sport, but there is huge pressure coming to Cincinnati with a number of points on the line.

Now down to sixth in the world in the WTA Live Rankings with her set to lose a whopping 1,870 points, she could fall down to the cusp of the top 10 if she is not careful. Added to that misery, she is 11th in the WTA Race with her almost 1000 points behind Marta Kostyuk in the final qualifying spot. She has qualified for the WTA Finals in each of the last five instalments, but could be in danger of missing out for the first time since 2020.