“I told Iga that I see things happen in front of the cameras and other things when we are in the locker room. Everyone can be what they want but without falsehood.”
At the press conference, Danielle Collins launched a direct attack to Iga Swiatek, after the controversies related to their quarterfinal match at the Paris Olympics. Iga responded by almost ignoring her opponent and putting an end to any controversy.
The controversy in the post match in the challenge between the world number 1 and the American continued in the post match and also had a tail on social media. First two surprising sets with Iga dominating the first set and the American tennis player who reacted in a big way by winning the second set. When the challenge seemed surprisingly changed Iga asked for a toilet break breaking the rhythm of her opponent and perhaps this was her real goal.
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In the third set Collins hits Iga at the net, shooting at her and hurting her quite a bit, then she makes sure of her condition and after a few games the match ends. A particular challenge, which however continued even after the match, as I said.
Danielle attacked her opponent harshly, making quite strong statements. At the end of the match, before retiring, Danielle went to talk to her opponent and it seemed like anything but compliments.
Iga Swiatek avoided the controversy and explained that she didn’t say anything and was just trying to wish her a speedy recovery especially after the medical time out.
“I won’t argue about it, because I’ve never done anything bad to her. I just wanted to congratulate her on her successful career, because we all know that this is her last year. Usually during tournaments, when we go out and have time to change, we are entitled to 5 minutes. Here I asked the lady who accompanied me how much time I had. She said that they don’t count the time here. So I used the time to change and freshen up, and then I went back on the court. I honestly didn’t know how much time had passed, but I didn’t do anything against the rules,” she said.
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Former legend Martina Navratilova has spoken out on the issue, attacking both Swiatek and Collins.
In a post she first wrote: “Guess how many times I went to the bathroom in my entire career in some 1700 matches?”
She then added, in response to another social post: “AFAIK, it didn’t happen at all. We never took bathroom breaks back then and certainly not as a ploy…”
Guess how many times I went to the bathroom in my whole career in some 1700 matches?
— Martina Navratilova (@Martina) July 31, 2024
AFAIK, it didn’t happen at all. We never took bathroom breaks back then and certainly not as a ploy… https://t.co/P7fOFwbNxb
— Martina Navratilova (@Martina) April 9, 2022