Aryna Sabalenka Left Shocked After Rival Iga Swiatek’s Capitulation Against Qinwen Zheng at Paris Olympics

Tennis at the 2024 Paris Olympics has seen some stark contrast in results when it comes to men’s and women’s singles. While the former has gone according to the script, with Novak Djokovic setting up a clash with Carlos Alcaraz in the final, the women’s singles has seen some massive upsets. Earlier this week, World Number 1, Iga Swiatek, went down fighting against Qinwen Zheng, a result not many had predicted, including Aryna Sabalenka. As a result, the Belarusian star expressed shock about the run of play at the Olympics.

After winning the French Open title earlier this year, Swiatek was a hot favorite to win her maiden Olympic gold medal. However, she fell victim to a victim to a shot against her Chinese opponent and made Sabalenka’s prediction go all wrong. Meanwhile, Sabalenka is currently playing at the Citi Open in Washington, where she reached the semifinals of the tournament.

During an interview there, she was asked if she was surprised by the players in the final of women’s singles at the Olympics, Qinwen Zheng and Donna Vekic. While she did hit that, it was a surprise to see these two players play in the summit clash, and Sabalenka was all praise for their efforts.

She mentioned, “I don’t want to say something bad about the players. Honestly, of course, I expected Iga to win a gold medal. It’s Paris. That’s her place. That’s what my expectation was. But girls are playing incredible tennis. I think this final is going to be be really cool to watch. Yeah, I’m probably — not probably – I’m going to watch the final if I’m not going to play my match. I’m sure this is going to be really great battle.”

Swiatek was disappointed and even broke down as her dream to win the gold medal in Paris came crashing down. However, a day later, she salvaged her pride by winning the bronze medal. Despite achieving a podium finish, the World Number was filled with mixed emotions.

Sadness and happiness for Iga Swiatek

Yesterday, the Polish star defeated Anna Karolina Schmiedlova of Slovakia in straight sets, 6-2, 6-1, in less than an hour to achieve a third-place finish at the Paris Olympic Games. Although she won’t return from the Games empty-handed, Swiatek’s ultimate dream was to win the yellow metal, which she fell short of after her semifinal defeat. As a result, Swiatek was confused about whether to be happy or sad.

Swiatek said, “After the match, I was pretty confused, because I still feel like I lost yesterday, and that was kind of a huge loss. On the other hand, I won today … so I should be proud of that. There’s like a lot of mixed emotions and still is.”

However, Swiatek’s season doesn’t end here. She will now set her eyes on winning her second US Open title later this year after clinching her first one a couple of years ago. Can she come back strongly after an unsatisfactory Paris Olympics campaign? Let us know your views in the comments below.