Iga Swiatek says she is ‘not proud’ of how she expressed her frustration during a match at Indian Wells but has criticized what she perceives as harsh judgements from the public.
During her semi-final clash with Mirra Andreeva, world No.2 Swiatek had a ball thrown to her by the ball boy, and she immediately hit it to the ground back in his direction. The ball didn’t hit him which would have led to a possible disqualification. Following the incident, she was criticized for her outburst on social media. Swiatek ended up losing the match 7-6(1), 1-6, 6-3, to Andreeva who went on to claim the title.
In a lengthy Instagram post published on Monday, Swiatek broke her silence on the incident. Stating that she immediately apologized for her behaviour, the five-time Grand Slam champion says she is surprised by the reaction.
“I immediately apologised to the ball boy, we made eye contact, and nodded to each other when I expressed regret that it happened near him,“ Swiatek wrote.
“I’ve seen many players bounce balls in frustration, and frankly, I didn’t expect such harsh judgments.
“Working on oneself isn’t something you achieve once and keep forever. Sometimes we take two steps forward and one step back.”
Elaborating further, the 23-year-old added that she wanted to share her view in order ‘to stop the speculation and baseless theories.’ So far this season, she has reached one quarter-final and three semi-finals on the Tour. She hasn’t won a title since last June at the French Open.
“When I’m highly focused and don’t show many emotions on court, I’m called a robot, my attitude labelled as inhuman,” she said.
“Now that I’m more expressive, showing feelings or struggling internally, I’m suddenly labelled immature or hysterical.
“That’s not a healthy standard – especially considering that just six months ago, I felt my career was hanging by a thread, spent three weeks crying daily, and didn’t want to step on the court.
“Today, after everything I’ve been through, I’m still processing and coming to terms with those experiences.”
During the second part of last year, Swiatek served a brief suspension from the Tour after failing a drugs test. She tested positive for the heart medication trimetazidine (TMZ), during an out-of-competition test in August and was provisionally suspended from the Tour for 22 days. Swiatek managed to overturn her suspension after proving the source of her failed test was a contaminated medication called melatonin which is manufactured in Poland and is used to treat jet lag.
Following a hearing, a panel concluded that she had ‘No Significant Fault or Negligence’ but issued a one-month suspension, which meant Swiatek had an additional eight days suspended dating from the time of their verdict. According to the panel, the penalty was less severe as the contaminated item was a medication and not a supplement. The ITIA perceives medication to have a lower degree of risk of contamination as it is processed under EU regulation.
During her suspension, Swiatek missed three tournaments, which paved the way for Aryna Sabalenka to claim the No.1 ranking who has held the position since October 21st.
Swiatek will return to action at the Miami Open where she will play either Caroline Garcia or Anna Bondar in her opening match.
