Iga Swiatek and Danielle Collins, known for their intense on-court rivalry, have once again captured headlines. While they didn’t face each other in their recent matches, the lingering tension from their 2024 Paris Olympics quarterfinal clash was evident in an awkward handshake before the 2025 United Cup final. What exactly transpired between these two formidable opponents?

Well, American star Danielle Collins and Iga Swiatek were involved in a high-octane clash at the Paris Olympics. In that epic battle, fans witnessed multiple controversial moments which led to a rise in temperature in the ‘City of Love’. For example, at one point in the match, Danielle Collins seemed to be a bit annoyed seeing the Pole lifting her racquet to stop her from serving, and then the American was even heard yelling at the saying, “Play at the server’s pace!”

Then there was another moment when Danielle Collins accidentally hit Iga Swiatek on the mid-rib during the play. Although Collins did check on her opponent that time, the temperatures soared even higher in the later stages of the match. “I was hit right under the ribs. I couldn’t breathe for a few seconds, but a moment later everything returned to normal and everything is fine now,” Iga Swiatek said later on. Everyone inside the stadium was right on the edge of the seats during this enticing encounter.

However, the match was cut short abruptly due to Danielle Collins’ abdominal injury. She withdrew from the match and hence, Iga Swiatek won the battle by 6-2,2-6,4-1. The match ended there, but not the drama!

Later on, Collins and Swiatek had a long chat at the net. When asked about what was their topic of discussion, Danielle Collins said, “I told Iga she didn’t have to be insincere about, you know, my injury. 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 that fakeness.“

The American faced quite a few backlashes for her reaction towards the Pole at that time. Everything looked settled between the two until their meeting at the 2025 United Cup. After offering a cold handshake with Iga Swiatek before the first match of the United Cup final, Danielle Collins was also seen airing two unapologetic takes on this incident after winning the final against Poland. She shared two IG stories, both revolving around her bizarre handshake with Iga Swiatek.

In the first one she captioned, “Didn’t know if you guys noticed this but… New year, same me.” Then, in the second one, she wrote, “Sometimes I just gotta laugh at myself.” Collins seemingly capitalized on the viral handshake by changing her Instagram profile picture to a close-up of her face on Sunday night.

Not only that, she was literally over the moon when Coco Gauff beat Iga Swiatek by 6-4,6-4 in their first match of the 2025 United Cup final. Her celebration perhaps eclipsed Gauff’s mom’s joyous reaction after seeing her daughter beat the former world number one. Did Danielle Collins and Iga Swiatek say anything later on about their controversial moment in the Paris Olympics, though? 

Danielle Collins’ late realization about the controversial moment with Iga Swiatek 

Iga Swiatek was left a bit confused by the comments that were made by Danielle Collins after their Paris Olympics showdown. Later on during an interview with the SportoweFatky, the Pole even said, “To this day, I still don’t understand where her comment came from.” She claimed that she had never said anything to Collins in poor taste. Iga Swiatek stated that all she wanted was to congratulate Collins as she had previously announced that she’d retire at the end of the 2024 season.

Even renowned journalist Ben Rothenberg said, “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.” Even Danielle Collins’ ex-trainer Jared Jacobs thought it was her underwhelming performance against Iga Swiatek that could’ve frustrated the American. He also added, “Iga has always been a nice person. She certainly didn’t say anything to Danielle that should have bothered her.“

While speaking on the same topic during an interview with The Athletic in November last year, Danielle Collins admitted that she could have taken a different approach while addressing her controversy with Swiatek.

“I think what happened on the court is very much just like sometimes people have friction at work. For most people, it’s not on the news. I’m trying to be the best person that I can be, but that’s not to say that I don’t fall short of that. I could have taken a different approach and done some things differently. But we had a moment there on court,” she said. 

When Danielle Collins was asked if she had been in touch with the Pole since their heated interaction, she said that Iga Swiatek was “guarded” by her people. She felt that whenever there was some friction between women, the situation was blown out of proportion. How eager are you to see these face each other in 2025, tough?