Iga Swiatek walked off Center Court last year having defeated Amanda Anisimova 6-0, 6-0 in 57 minutes in 2025. This week, she came back to SW19 as the defending champion, the third seed, and somebody who has been working at repairing the relationship with a sport that has been testing her since that afternoon. Swiatek addressed the subject that consumed and almost destroyed her in an interview with The Times ahead of Wimbledon 2026, and defended the person who helped her through it from the media scrutiny. 

The lowest point came in the tail end of 2024, when Swiatek was told that a banned substance had been found in an out-of-competition test. She was world No. 1, had won her fourth French Open earlier that year, and was suspended for one month when authorities found she had taken a contaminated melatonin supplement. Those were the weeks when Swiatek’s psychologist, Daria Abramowicz, became the most essential person on her team.

“It was a terrible situation out of my control. I was just shocked and devastated and it basically changed my perspective towards tennis for a few weeks. I had a hard time even stepping on court and hitting a few balls because I felt like I needed to fight for the truth to be just and fair and also my honour a little bit, even though I didn’t do anything wrong. For some time I couldn’t even play. I was basically just crying for weeks, constantly thinking about it and how this happened to me, That was another time when I needed support that I wouldn’t get if you didn’t have a person that understands me in my team,” Swiatek told Tom Kershaw of The Times.

“People on social media like to give their opinions, but they don’t know how we work and what kind of support I need and how much people that are in my position need trusted people. I would be a totally different person in terms of how I was at the time. I was super insecure. I didn’t really have skills emotionally or even cognitively to play tennis at the level I needed to achieve this kind of level, so she helped me develop myself as a player.” Swiatek added.

Abramowicz has worked with her since 2019, traveling to virtually every tournament and appearing in her player’s box at almost every match. That visibility has resulted in extreme scrutiny and controversy for Abramowicz. The criticism against Abramowicz increased after Swiatek split ways with her coach, Tomasz Wiktorowski, at the end of 2024. Polish tennis commentators and pundits accused her of being too influential and that her inclusion made the working environment more challenging for her new coaches.

A scene in the Netflix series Break Point, in which Abramowicz appeared to give input on Swiatek’s haircut, was misread by large sections of the audience as evidence of an inappropriately personal relationship, something Swiatek later condemned, explaining it was taken out of context and that she had been speaking sarcastically. Swiatek is adamant that the claims are baseless.  

The suspension period was not the only juncture at which Swiatek says she nearly lost her composure. She reflected on the reaction to her 2020 Roland Garros win, an event that seemed to herald the beginning of her career. 

“You think when you win, and it’s all a dream come true and amazing, but there are so many things that change in this young person’s life, business-wise, money-wise, also how people treat you being famous suddenly, being observed, having paparazzi in front of your house. I struggled a lot to focus on tennis for weeks, even months, after my first Roland Garros.”

As per The ingredient that unlocked last year’s Wimbledon title was, by Swiatek’s account, the absence of pressure rather than the presence of confidence. “The only thing I need to do is really focus on doing my job the best I can, day by day, because last year this tournament was actually so nice for me because I didn’t have many expectations,” she said. She was not a favorite in the 2025 draw, but left it as the champion, having not dropped a game in the final.

Swiatek draws on Nadal and Francisco Roig for Wimbledon defense

The question facing Swiatek heading into this year’s title defense is whether the formula that worked in 2025 can be replicated with a third seed next to her name and a target on her back. The response to this has been to create a new dynamic in the coaching relationship that has now become synonymous with 2026. A partnership with Francisco Roig, Rafael Nadal’s long-time coach who split with Emma Raducanu in late January 2026, has been the spark. 

“The last years have been intense, and I feel like I need to give myself time to even lose some tournaments but be in a process that will get me somewhere forward in future,” Swiatek stated. Having Nadal himself observe the pair’s early training sessions at his academy in Mallorca in April gave Swiatek something she had not expected. 

“It was a huge privilege after those tough tournaments in the US, and because of that I could feel a joy again being on the court, because I remembered as a kid why I loved playing tennis and what I felt when I watched him,” the Pole said.

“Also I remembered all his values and the way he worked through some difficult situations in his career. Having him there kind of reminds you of all that, and he’s a great example to follow, so it gave me a really positive kick and a little bit of light,” she added. 

The Polish No.1 comes into Wimbledon 2026 with a 4th round finish at Roland Garros, and a 21-11 record in the season. The 25-year-old hasn’t won a title since last July 2025′ Venus Rosewater Dish. Emma Navarro defeated Swaitek in the first round of the Bad Homburg tournament before Wimbledon. The defending champion hasn’t had the season she wanted, but neither had the player who arrived at Wimbledon 2025 as the eighth seed with everything to prove and nothing to lose. 

“I realize I can’t repeat the stuff I did a couple of years ago when I had a great streak of matches or won tournaments,” she said. “Tennis is changing. I am changing. I am a different person, and sometimes you need to find different solutions.” 

Whether those solutions, built around Roig’s coaching and Abramowicz’s steadying presence, are enough to defend on a surface that only recently became hers is what the next fortnight will reveal.