Iga Swiatek answers why she reads comments online and if they can be 'hurtful'

08/14/2024 12:05 AM

Iga Swiatek reveals she does actually read what people have to say about her but usually does it after tournaments since she is interested in seeing outside opinions. 

Since tennis is an individual sport and players can only get the full praise or blame, some prefer not to read anything about them because they simply do not want to deal with hecklers and potentially very mean comments. 

And current world No. 1 Swiatek has the same approach during tournaments because she wants to stay completely locked in and not risk any outside voices getting to her. But after concluding her run, the 23-year-old Pole relaxes a bit in that aspect. 

"I decide that myself, but I usually isolate myself quite a bit during tournaments. I only go online to post after each match. I don't read any comments. But I usually catch up after the tournaments because I want to be aware of what people are saying," Swiatek told SportoweFakty.

Over the last several years, social media abuse has become one of the biggest issues in tennis - the reason for that is already mentioned above. In the majority of cases when a player receives negative comments, it comes from a better who lost money. 

And the Polish five-time Grand Slam champion was asked if such comments can indeed be "hurtful."

"Unfortunately, many people do not realize what the life of an athlete looks like. There is no point in clinging to such opinions, although in my opinion it is still worth knowing what others think of you. Unfortunately, people like to jump to conclusions," Swiatek answered.

Asked how she personally deals with it, Swiatek didn't directly answer as she instead tried to shift focus to the positive messages she receives.

"I don't want to answer or explain, because I realize that a lot of people support me and I wouldn't be able to explain everything. I simply accept that such things are a part of my life. Very often, I receive very positive messages. This was the case right after the defeat in the semi-final in Paris, when messages of support from fans and friends, and even from other athletes, helped me a lot," Swiatek said.

Over the last few years, Swiatek and 21-year-old Alcaraz have become the new faces of women's and men's tennis, respectively. And while both have achieved big success early on in their careers, they are two completely different personalities as Swiatek has never hidden the fact that she is introverted and shy, while Alcaraz is an extrovert and he is never shying away from bringing energy to his matches or engaging the crowd to the fullest. 

Addressing her previous statement that her current position can be "exhausting" at times because it often requires her to be in constant action while she is an introvert, the 23-year-old Pole gave an honest response.

"Carlos Alcaraz has a completely different personality than me, he travels to tournaments with many people, enjoys life, has fun and celebrates successes in a completely different way. For me, it's more important to have peace around me, take care of simple pleasures and spend time with my loved ones. I'm an introvert, and if I did more, I would feel very tired," Swiatek explained.

At this Paris Olympics, the massive pressure got to Swiatek and it resulted in her suffering a shock semifinal loss to Zheng Qinwen. Needless to say, the loss was extremely tough to deal with as the four-time Grand Slam champion later revealed that she cried for several hours straight after realizing she wouldn't leave the French capital with her maiden Olympic medal.

And heading into her first hard-court tournament this summer, Swiatek just wants one thing - to avoid stress. However, that doesn't mean she won't be gunning for the main prize.

“We’re taking it easy, doing everything step by step. For sure, it’s not going to be perfect from the beginning but I had a couple days to really get used to the surface, so I’m trying to do the best job possible every day and entering the court next day knowing I can do something better. I’m going to treat it as a practice tournament. Not in a way that I don’t care but in the way that I want to implement all the stuff I’ve been practiced, and I think that’s the best approach for me," Swiatek said.

Swiatek is the top-seeded player in Cincinnati and her campaign will start from the second round when she takes on either Ajla Tomljanovic or Varvara Gracheva.