“A step forward to the right direction” – Swiatek on French Federation’s technology to block hateful comments on social media

The Pole revealed she has stopped seeing comments on her social media after tournaments when people were unhappy about her not winning every match this year

Iga Swiatek practices ahead of 2023 Roland-Garros Championships Image Credit: Zuma / Panoramic

Haresh Ramchandani

May 27, 2023

World No 1 Iga Swiatek, who has often spoken about the importance of mental well-being in the past, has welcomed the French Tennis Federation’s new initiative that will hide hateful comments from player’s social media accounts.

Swiatek, who has a full-time sports psychologist, Daria Abramowicz, in her team, said she plans to use the technology over the next two weeks at Roland-Garros.

“I will use the app, and I think it’s a great idea and a step forward to the right direction, because honestly social media was also in my life because I’m this generation who had it even when we just learned how to use our phones,” the defending French Open champion told the media in Paris on Friday. “So it’s just sad to kind of see that the thing that was supposed to kind of make us happy and make us socialize is giving us more negative feelings and negative thoughts. So I think these kind of apps maybe will help us to use social media and not worry about those things.”

“People were unhappy because they kind of after last year they thought that I should win everything” – Swiatek

Swiatek revealed that she had a ritual of going through comments after a tournament was over but has done away with it after reading that people were disappointed when she was not able to win every single match just as she had done last year.

“After tournaments, I had this ritual of going just to see what people thought about my matches a little bit. But right now, I stopped doing that, because even when I had two tournaments, one I won, the other one I was in the final, I went on social media and people were unhappy because they kind of after last year they thought that I should win everything, that I’m getting worse because I’m not winning. So it frustrated me a little bit, and I realized that there is no sense to read all that stuff. So the app, I think it’s a great idea, and the French Federation made a really great job.”

The Pole opens her campaign in Paris this year against Spain’s Cristina Bucsa and will be gunning for her third French Open title in four years.