Swiatek slams internet trolls after losing a set to Zheng in Cincinnati victory

Iga Swiatek defeated Qinwen Zheng in three sets to reach the quarter-finals in Cincinnati on Thursday. However, she wasn’t too pleased with the reaction on social media.

Iga Swiatek in Toronto (ICON SMI/Panoramic)

Ricky Dimon

August 18, 2023

Iga Swiatek won her third-round match at the Western & Southern Open on Thursday afternoon, but not all was well despite her overall successful result.

Swiatek opened her post-match press conference by addressing hate-filled e-mails and social-media comments directed at her for losing a set to Qinwen Zheng during her 3-6, 6-1, 6-1 victory. The world No 1 seemed to be unaware of the reason for such a reaction, although presumably the messages were sent primarily from punters who had backed her to win in straight sets.

The amount of hate…after even losing a set is just ridiculous.
Iga Swiatek

“For sure today’s match wasn’t perfect,” Swiatek said. “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. I want to kind of encourage people to be more thoughtful when they comment on internet.

“It would be great if you guys would kind of help us — make it happen as journalists. Because we all sacrifice a lot and we are all working really hard to be in that place. I mean, we are always giving 100% of what we can do every day.

“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 troubles.

“Even though for sure I didn’t feel my best game or that it’s going to be a good performance in the first set, I was able actually to do that, and it’s because 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.

“So, yeah, I wanted to just kind of encourage people on the internet to be more positive and also see the positive side of what we are doing.”

Swiatek and her team also getting hate mail

According to Swiatek, the comments were not only on social media. The 22-year-old Pole also indicated that she and her team received some scathing e-mails.

“Seeing everything that’s going on on the internet after some days when I don’t play my best tennis and just have a little bit worse performance, I feel that world would be such a better place if we didn’t judge each other so quickly and write that.

“It’s not only in the public area but also e-mails I get and messages — and my team, as well, actually, which is pretty crazy. That’s why I wanted to kind of speak out about that.”