"To this day, I don't understand where her comment came from" - Iga Swiatek on moving on from her Paris Olympics controversy with Danielle Collins
Iga Swiatek recently talked about how quickly she moved on from her 2024 Paris Olympics controversy with Danielle Collins. The Pole said the drama in their quarterfinal did not impact her performance against Zheng Qinwen.
Swiatek secured her maiden Olympic medal – a bronze – at the 2024 Olympic Games. The Pole, who was undefeated at Stade Roland-Garros since 2022, was beaten by eventual gold medalist, China’s Zheng Qinwen, in the semifinals. Despite the setback, however, Swiatek bounced back to win her bronze medal match against Anna Karolina Schmiedlova.
It is worth noting that just a day before her match against Zheng, Iga Swiatek’s quarterfinal match against Danielle Collins had a controversial end. Collins retired due to injury and called out the World No. 1’s supposed “fake” concern about her struggles.
The match had its fair share of drama, as the American didn’t appreciate Iga Swiatek apparently delaying her serve. At the time, Swiatek addressed the controversy by assuring that she never did “anything nasty” to Collins and was thus confused about her opponent’s remarks.
Reiterating her stance during her interview with WP SportoweFakty, she said:
"To this day, I still don't understand where her comment came from." (translated from Polish).
She added that she moved on quickly, and that the altercation did not impact her semifinal with Zheng Qinwen the next day.
"I decided there was no point in looking into it. I focused on myself. I'm a professional, and things like that don't affect how I play tennis later on," she said.
Interestingly, Zheng, too, had a similar experience after her third-round match against Emma Navarro. After fending off a match point to seal the win, the Chinese player was given an earful by the American about her seemingly "cutthroat" nature.
Iga Swiatek on her Paris Olympics experience: "It's great fun, but not always for those who want to win a medal"
Iga Swiatek was the outright favorite to win the Paris Olympics gold, given her remarkable record at Stated Roland-Garros (four titles). After failing to live up to her own expectations, she revealed why the tournament was important to her.
"Probably because this tournament takes place once every four years and because most people's lives revolve around sports during the games," she said in the aforementioned interview.
Despite bawling her eyes out after losing the semifinal, Swiatek was captured smiling from ear to ear as she accepted the bronze medal on the podium. Her father, Tomasz, a former rower who missed out on an Olympic medal by narrow margins in 1988, was also present to witness her triumph.
"It's great fun, but not always for those who are in the middle and want to win a medal, being the favorite. In this case, it also happened that Paris is a special place for me and the dream of an Olympic medal has been in my family since I was little," she said.
Following her Roland-Garros campaign, Iga Swiatek stayed back to support her compatriots. The five-time Grand Slam champion has since landed in the United States for the Cincinnati Open.
She is defending a semifinal run at the event and has received a bye in the opening round. The Pole is set to face either Ajla Tomljanovic or a qualifier in the second round.