Iga Swiatek addresses hate after her match: “The amount of hate & criticism me & my team get after even losing a set is just ridiculous. I want to encourage people to be more thoughtful when they comment..” Powerful statement from a great leader.
"Amount of criticism me and my team get after losing a set is ridiculous": Strong statement from Swiatek, calls for end to online hate
WTAFriday, 18 August 2023 at 12:30
Iga Swiatek began her Western & Southern Open (Cincinnati Open) press conference with a powerful statement asking for a reduction of hate messages targeted to her and her team.
Swiatek saw off Zheng Qinwen 3-6, 6-1, 6-1 with most of the focus heading towards the poor opener from the World Number One who after a clothing change went on to ease through.
But appeared upset in press after being criticised for even dropping a set, albeit against a player firmly on the rise.
"Today's match wasn't perfect. We all saw that. But the amount of hate and criticism me and my team get after losing a set is ridiculous. I want to encourage people to be more thoughtful when they comment on the internet," she said in Cincinnati.
“It would be great if you guys,” she added. "Would kind of help us to make it happen as journalists. We all sacrifice a lot and we all are working really hard to be in that place. 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 really encourage people to be more thoughtful and to also focus on the positive side of what we’re doing.
“Even though I didn’t start the match well, I would love for people to see how I problem-solved and got out of troubles. For sure, I didn’t feel my best game or that it wouldn’t be a good performance in the first set, I was able actually to do that. I’m doing a lot of work, physically, mentally, and also off-court. I’m trying to be the best kind of person and player 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.”
'The Internet is not going to be a safe place anymore' - Swiatek urges hate to cease over minor points
“On the Internet I feel like it's getting worse and worse, the hate and the amount of comments that are really, like, straightforward and sometimes even a little bit mean,” she continued later in the press conference. “So, I wish it could change, because I feel like the Internet is not going to be a safe place anymore for us to go and to read stuff.
“I just kind of wanted me and my team to be a little bit more respected sometimes. But I also know that I'm not going to have 100% influence on what people are going to think or write. I just think the world and the Internet could be a better place if we all kind of work on that.”
Swiatek continued that she saw similar criticism in losing the final in Dubai after winning Qatar and said that the focus shouldn't just be on one result.
"I was pretty proud of my results but people really just saw the last match and that I lost in the final and they shouldn't," said the World Number One.
"I'm putting a lot of energy for it not to hit too deeply, but I realised that sometimes people - I don't know if they're my fans or not but they want me to play better - cause me to waste a lot of energy to ignore them."
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