Maja Chwalińska, the 2026 French Open runner-up, endured a cruel first-round exit at Wimbledon after getting injured while holding match point against Mananchaya Sawangkaew Monday.Chwalińska, who was given a wild card for the tournament as is seeded at No. 20, dominated as she established match point on Sawangkaew’s serve, but fell awkwardly when chasing her opponent’s forehand down the line with the score at 6-2, 5-2*, 30-40. Chwalińska’s condition appeared to deteriorate thereafter, and the supreme court coverage which saw her establish her lead became non-existent. Sawangkaew came back into the match, and recorded a 2-6, 7-5, 6-2 win.The Polish 24-year-old called a medical timeout after the injury happened, before attempting to serve out the match. She received attention to her right ankle, and had strapping applied to the area by a trainer.In a similar manner to the demise of Jannik Sinner in his French Open second-round defeat to Juan Manuel Cerúndolo, whose physical issues also came to a head when serving for the match, Chwalińska’s level evaporated, and she skewed uncharacteristic errors — a result of her restricted movement — which allowed Sawangkaew to find three break points to put the second set back on serve.Chwalińska could not prevent Sawangkaew from leveling the set, and gestured towards her discomfort on multiple occasions. Sawangkaew ultimately won five consecutive games to take the set and level the match.Chwalińska, the world No. 21, went off court for around eight minutes between the second and third sets, and while she managed to record an early break, she was still grimacing and stretching out her leg and back between points, while refraining from chasing any ambitious balls.Sawangkaew levelled shortly after with a break to love, and from then on the match was something of a procession. Chwalińska’s exit became inevitable when her opponent took the lead for the first time with another break in the third set, having ironed out her unforced errors.Chwalińska’s first-round Wimbledon exit came just over three weeks after her defeat to Mirra Andreeva in the final at Roland Garros. She became the first qualifier to reach a French Open women’s final, and rose over 90 places in the WTA rankings as a result of her run. That made her the No. 20 seed at Wimbledon, but she also required a wild card to enter, because her ranking was too low to get into the main draw when the entry lists came out.Jun 29, 2026Connections: Sports EditionSpot the pattern. Connect the termsFind the hidden link between sports terms