Just when everyone thought the bitter memories of the feud between Iga Swiatek and Danielle Collins from the 2024 Paris Olympics faded away, they seem to have resurfaced. Ahead of the 2025 United Cup final between Poland and USA, on Sunday, the cold pre-match handshake from Collins made it clear that she’s not fond of the Pole, at all! She still seemed to be upset with Swiatek after what happened at the Paris Olympics.

Renowned journalist Jose Morgado shared a post on X, dated January 5, revealing pre-match moments on the eve of the United Cup final. He shared a clip where the American team was seen shaking hands with Poland’s Swiatek and other players. While Coco Gauff and Taylor Fritz seemed very normal, passing a smile, Danimal wasn’t so cool. Collins barely shook hands with Iga ahead of the final. Her unpleasant reaction spoke volumes.

For the unversed, Collins and Swiatek faced each other during the quarterfinal round of the Paris Olympics. Before this encounter, Swiatek was already leading the h2h by 6-1. But this match turned out to be more than just a regular face-off, thanks to the post match comments made by Collins. During the match, Swiatek appeared to be struggling to catch her breath after getting hit in the abdomen by one of the shots of Collins.

Collins, who was also suffering from an abdominal injury back then, thought the Pole was mocking her injury and that offended her. “I told Iga she didn’t have to be insincere about my injury. I haven’t had the best experience and I don’t really feel like anybody needs to be insincere,” Collins said during the post-match interview.

“There’s a lot that happens on camera, and there are a lot of people with a ton of charisma and come out and are one way on camera and another way in the locker room. And I just haven’t had the best experience, and I don’t really feel like anybody needs to be insincere. They can be the way that they are. I can accept that, and I don’t need the fakeness,” she further added.

At the latter stage of the match, Collins got even more furious. She was annoyed to see Swiatek lifting her racket to stop her from serving while citing interference from the crowd. “There’s like no one behind me. Play at the servers pace,” an angry Danielle Collins was heard saying, after she had enough of the Pole’s weird on-court antics. Not to mention Swiatek’s nine-minute bathroom break that paused the match for a while as well, aggravating Collins further.

The final nail in the coffin was the result itself. Danimal was frustrated after she had to withdraw from the match. Swiatek took the first set 6-2. Danimal came back strongly and leveled the fight with a second-set win with a scoreline of 6-2. In the last set, when she was down 1-4, Collins decided to retire due to her abdominal injury. She was gutted after missing out on a medal opportunity. “I had a heat stroke. Nearly collapsed when I came off court, and I was on a medical table for three hours,” she said during the post-match interview.

When asked if Swiatek’s long bathroom break had anything to do with her cold gestures, Collins remarked, “Honestly, I didn’t know how much time had passed, but I didn’t do anything against the rules, so I don’t really know what the whole situation was about.”

Collins was, however, at the receiving end of this controversy. Several experts, including her own former coach, didn’t like her on-court behavior.

When Danielle Collins’ ex-coach and a reputed insider criticized her cold gestures to Iga Swiatek

Collins’ comments and reactions during the QF match baffled some notable figures in the world of tennis, including journalist Ben Rothenberg. Choosing to defend Iga Swiatek, Rothenberg shared his honest thoughts on Collins. When asked if he was surprised by the American’s behavior, Rothenberg replied:

“I have no idea what Collins meant by Iga’s falseness and insincerity because, for most people in tennis, she’s the last person you could say that about. Świątek is genuine in her emotions. Danielle’s choice of words was odd.”

Commenting on Collins accusing the Pole of being insincere towards her abdominal injury, Rothenberg added, “I’ll definitely ask her about it next time we talk, although I don’t think she’d want to comment on it. If I had to guess, it was more about Iga being, how should I put it… detached during matches.”

On the other hand, Danimal’s ex-trainer Jared Jacobs thought it was her underwhelming performance against Swiatek that frustrated the American. And that it might have been the reason behind her unexpected reactions. “It’s hard for me to say exactly why Danielle was so upset. About the loss? Maybe she was embarrassed to come off the big court in the quarterfinals of the Games with an injury? From what I know of Danielle, I know that sometimes she can be bothered by completely harmless things, and then she doesn’t think about anything else. Nevertheless, Iga has always been a nice person. She certainly didn’t say anything to Danielle that should have bothered her,” Jacobs said.

Do you think this rivalry will reignite after Collins’ cold handshake with Iga Swiatek ahead Sunday’s United Cup final? Let us know in the comments below.