There was sadness, shock, and disbelief for Iga Swiatek at Roland Garros last week. Despite her dominance on the clay courts, the Polish sensation fell to Qinwen Zheng in the semi-finals, with Zheng ultimately clinching the gold medal in women’s singles at the Paris Olympics. The loss was a bitter pill to swallow for Swiatek and her legion of fans, who had high hopes for her Olympic run. Criticism and flak quickly followed. Detractors questioned her strategy, her composure, and even her plans. But amid the barrage of negativity, one person stood steadfastly by her side: her coach, Tomasz Wiktorowski.

Wiktorowski engaged in an interview with WP SportoweFakty and delved into various topics concerning his mentee, including her performance at the recently concluded tennis at the Paris Olympics. In the interview, he also lashed out at the critics for their remarks on Swiatek, and one of the people to come on Wiktorowski’s target was tennis commentator Lech Sidor. 

When quizzed by a journalist about claims of Swiatek not having a plan B for her performance, Wiktorowski questioned angrily. “Please tell me which expert formulated such conclusions.” And upon hearing the name of Sidor, his anger seemed to ignite further. Responding to the claims, the coach said that he values only those remarks that are respectable for him, “I do not refer to the comments of people who sit in one place, were not outstanding players or did not coach players playing at the highest level, do not know the realities of the current tennis tour.”

Continuing further, Wiktorowski seemed to take a veiled jibe at the former player for his own endeavors on the tennis courts. He claimed that such people “do not see how we work, have no idea what problems tennis players struggle with today, and draw their knowledge of modern tennis from media coverage and are only concerned with “telling” about tennis while looking at the TV screen.” For the unversed, Sidor also represented Poland and had a career-high ranking of 793. Interestingly, Sidor’s remarks can be attributed to what Swiatek said in the past. 

Ahead of her campaign at the French Open this year, Swiatek had revealed her determination to win big. “I have more positive thoughts when I play. I also have a plan B if things don’t go well,” she had said. But, despite the support she is receiving from her coach, consoling her after the mega heartbreak was not easy.

Swiatek did not want to play for bronze in the Olympics

Swiatek is known for her resilience and determination. But the magnanimous heartbreak at the Paris Olympic semifinals devastated her to the core, as the Polish sensation was not ready to even appear in the match for the bronze medal. 

Speaking in the same interview, Wiktorowski revealed the agony that followed for Swiatek. While he explained that it was difficult to mobilize Iga for the bronze, he revealed the aspiration that World No. 1 demonstrated. “Here it was indeed additionally difficult, due to the high emotions. We had to quickly pull ourselves together, have a briefing and think about what else we could do before the match for bronze,” he added.

As tennis moves to the American hard-court swing now, it would be interesting to see if Swiatek can outclass her previous performances and win bigger at the US Open just as she did in 2022.