(VIDEO) Iga Swiatek stopped by Australian Open security upon arrival at the gym

Iga Swiatek was stopped by Australian Open security upon arriving at the gym for her pre-match preparations ahead of her quarter-final match. The six-time major champion was not allowed to enter the gym after arriving without her credentials, a moment that was captured by the tournament’s television broadcast.

In the hours leading up to Swiatek’s appearance on court for her quarter-final clash against Elena Rybakina, she experienced an unusual situation with security guards. In the video, Swiatek can be seen arriving somewhat hurried as she attempted to enter the facilities at Melbourne Park, but when passing through the checkpoint, she was unable to get through easily.

And despite being the world No. 2, Swiatek was required to show her credential in order to access the tournament facilities, which she did not have with her. She was quickly seen calling her team so they could bring her credential from the hotel, allowing her to begin her preparatory work ahead of stepping onto the court at Rod Laver Arena.

The 24-year-old star reached the Australian Open semi-finals for the third time in her career, following a strong campaign so far. Along the way, she defeated Yue Yuan (7-6, 6-3), Marie Bouzkova (6-2, 6-3), Anna Kalinskaya (6-1, 1-6, 6-1), and local surprise Madison Inglis (6-0, 6-3).

Back in 2022, Swiatek reached the semi-finals for the first time, but ended up losing to Danielle Collins (6-4, 6-1), while in the 2025 semi-finals she squandered a match point before eventually falling in a third-set tie-break to eventual champion Madison Keys (5-7, 6-1, 7-6).

This time, Swiatek will face a complicated opponent in Elena Rybakina, against whom she holds a narrow 6-5 head-to-head advantage (5-3 on hard courts). Their most recent meeting came just two months ago at the WTA Finals, where the Kazakh recovered from a set down in the round-robin stage to defeat Swiatek 3-6, 6-1, 6-0.

They had already faced each other on this same stage back at the Australian Open 2023, in the round of 16. On that occasion, both were the most recent Grand Slam champions: Rybakina from Wimbledon 2022, and Swiatek later from the US Open. In Melbourne, the dominant player was Rybakina, who went on to reach her second Grand Slam final — although she ultimately lost to Aryna Sabalenka in the final, where the Belarusian claimed her first major title.