Top tennis player Iga Swiatek condemns excessive online “hate and criticism” “Be more considerate”
Top-ranked women’s tennis pro Iga Swiatek is calling out internet trolls.
Swiatek said that after beating Zheng Qinwen in the fourth round of the Western & Southern Open in Cincinnati on Thursday, she and her team had seen a tremendous amount of online criticism.
“Today’s match wasn’t perfect, and we all saw that. But the amount of hate and criticism that me and my team get after even losing a set is just ridiculous,” she said. “I want to encourage people to be more thoughtful when they comment on the internet.”
The 22-year-old world No. 1 even pleaded with members of the media to “help us make it happen.”
“We all sacrifice a lot, and we are all working really hard to be in that place. We are always giving 100% of what we can do every day,” she added.
“It’s kind of sad for me to see that people I work with and myself, we are really judged. I would like to encourage people to be more thoughtful and to also focus on the positive side of what we are doing, because today, even though I didn’t start the match well, I would love for people to see how I problem-solved and how I really got out of trouble.”
Despite losing the first set to Zheng, Swiatek, who has never been past the Cincinnati tournament quarterfinals, recovered to triumph 3-6, 6-1, 6-1.
“I’m doing a lot of work – physically and mentally. Also off court, I’m trying to be the best kind of player and person as possible. I just wanted to encourage people on the internet to be more positive and also to see the positive side of what we’re doing.”
Swiatek defeated the 10th-seeded Marketa Vondrousova in straight sets on Friday to move to the semifinal stage, 먹튀검증 where she will play the No. 7 seed Coco Gauff.