"How many times I went to bathroom in 1700 matches?" - Martina Navratilova slams Iga Swiatek & Danielle Collins for extended breaks at Paris Olympics
Martina Navratilova was left disappointed by Iga Swiatek and Danielle Collins taking extended off-court breaks during their quarterfinal clash at the 2024 Paris Olympics on Wednesday. The American pointed to her career and took pride in the fact that she had very rarely done so, hinting that Swiatek and Collins could benefit from the same attitude.
In a heated battle on Court Suzanne-Lenglen, it was the World No. 1 who prevailed at the end of the day after Collins retired midway through the third set. Swiatek went through to the next round with a 6-1, 2-6, 4-1 ret. scoreline and will play in her first semifinal at the Olympics.
Collins cited an injury for the retirement and had previously taken a medical time-out for the same. Swiatek, on the other hand, went for a bathroom break at the end of the second set and started the third set strong with two breaks of serve.
Speaking about their clash on Twitter (now X), journalist Christopher Clarey emphasized their off-court breaks, and commented that such long breaks from both players were "far from ideal."
"If we're keeping score for extended off-court breaks since the second set, it's now 1-1 between Iga Swiatek and Danielle Collins. This all seems far, far from ideal," he said.
Navratilova responded to the tweet, asking Clarey to guess how often she had done the same in her career spanning more than 1,700 matches.
"Guess how many times I went to the bathroom in my whole career in some 1700 matches?" Navratilova said.
Navratilova is rather proud of the fact that she and other players of her time very rarely take bathroom breaks, even once commenting that they "never did" so during a match.
"We never took bathroom breaks back then and certainly not as a ploy," Navratilova had said, in the context of Arantxa Sanchez Vicario supposedly taking an extended break as a strategy to throw off Venus Williams' momentum in 1994.
It should be noted, however, that there is currently an Excessive Weather Policy in effect at the Paris Olympics. Because temperatures are so high, players are allowed to take a 10-minute break in between sets, meaning Swiatek had every right to do so.
Iga Swiatek to take on Zheng Qinwen in Paris Olympics semifinals
Following her win over Danielle Collins, Iga Swiatek is set to next take on Zheng Qinwen in the semifinals of the Paris Olympics. Zheng defeated Angelique Kerber in the quarterfinals, and was also stretched to three sets.
The three-time French Open defending champion is undefeated against the Chinese in the past and leads their head-to-head 6-0. A seventh straight win against her would pit Swiatek against either Donna Vekic or Anna Karolina Schmiedlova in the final.