On a day of sensations at Wimbledon, defending champion Iga Swiatek and former winner Elena Rybakina were both ousted from the championships, while icon Serena Williams was forced to withdraw from a doubles outing with her sister Venus.
While the men’s tournament has reached the second week with relatively few upsets, the women’s tournament is again wide open with Barbora Krejcikova the only former champion left in the draw.
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There have been nine different Wimbledon champions in as many years in the women’s tournament and if dual-major winner Krejcikova is unable to continue her resurgence, there will be tenth crowned next week after a stunning Saturday.
For all her brilliance on clay, Swiatek was a somewhat surprise winner in 2025 given she had previously struggled on grass in senior ranks, though she was a junior girls winner at Wimbledon.
But after a tight first set against emerging sensation Alexandra Eala, a trailblazing talent from the Philippines, Swiatek’s defence of the title was ended 7-6 (9) 6-2 to continue the run of outs for a woman who dominated after Ash Barty’s retirement.
Eala, who ousted Australian Maya Joint in three sets two days after her triumph over Serena Williams, is the first player from the Philippines to reach the second week of a major and already has a massive fan base.
A big hit when she featured at the Kooyong Classic and Australian Open in Melbourne in January, the 21-year-old who trains at Rafael Nadal’s academy was delighted to have produced such a superb effort on Centre Court at Wimbledon.
“Maybe for someone like Iga who has won so many slams, or maybe someone like Serena or Venus this achievement may seem small, but for someone who grew up in the Philippines, for me, this is everything,” she said.
Swiatek, who was seeded third but will slip down the rankings having failed to defend the title, conceded she was no longer arriving at tournaments expecting to win every time.
“I need to trust the process, for sure. Honestly, I don’t care anymore about the results. I’ve been so focused on them that it’s hard to continue like that. So I’m really trying to let it go,” Swiatek said.
“I don’t have good results, so I’m not going to expect for myself good results because they’re just not happening. I’m not on that level yet. I need to work from the beginning and try to just get my tennis better.”
Rybakina, the reigning Australian Open champion, is nearly unstoppable when in peak form but is prone to lapses and after an even first set against Belgian veteran Elise Mertens, she was ousted 7-6 (4) 6-1.
“I feel like the energy could have been better. (There were) a lot of things which I’m not happy with,” she said.
“If I knew why, I wouldn’t be in this situation right now. As soon as it happened a couple weeks ago when I was not playing my best, honestly, I don’t know (why).
“I have been working well, I think, in the past weeks. I was getting a lot of opportunities since I was losing early in the tournaments. Definitely I need to analyse and change something, because it’s not working.”
Williams, meanwhile, put an end to days of conjecture surrounding her appearance in the doubles alongside her elder sister when withdrawing shortly before their first round outing.
The 23-time major champion was criticised for failing to fulfil media obligations after her loss to Joint when playing her first singles match in almost four years on Tuesday, but later revealed she was suffering from a knee tweak.
Although she did not call for or receive any medical treatment during the three set loss to the Australian, when announcing her withdrawal on social media she posted a photograph of the syringes she has been using to drain fluid from the joint.
In an official statement, she said she was devastated not to be able to compete alongside her sister, who is a five-time Wimbledon champion, with the duo having clinched the doubles title at the All England Club six times.
But she hinted the setback would not prevent her from returning to the court again in the future.
“I’m heartbroken to have to withdraw from doubles,” she said.
“Coming back to compete again has been a gift, and the opportunity to play alongside Venus once more meant the world to me. I did everything I could to be ready, but unfortunately my knee just isn’t ready to compete.
“I’m especially grateful to tournament director, Jamie Baker, and the entire tournament team for giving me every opportunity to play here. Thank you to the fans for your incredible support and for making this comeback so meaningful. All I can say is stay tuned to a city near you.
“The photo of the syringes shows the fluid they drained from my knee after my singles match. Yikes! The good news is my knee shouldn’t swell or collect that much fluid again. The bad news is that, as hard as I tried, I just wasn’t able to get it ready for doubles.”