Iga Świątek has never been one to shy away from controversy on the WTA Tour.
In fact, the 24-year-old is arguably one of tennis’ most prominent voices, routinely sticking up for causes that she believes in.
Her arguments are often helped by the player that she is, having won six Grand Slam titles and held the world number one spot for 125 weeks.
Normally, Swiatek is often found complaining about the tennis schedule.
However, on this occasion, it was Aryna Sabalenka’s Battle of the Sexes match vs Nick Kyrgios that drew some scrutiny from her.
What did Iga Swiatek say about Aryna Sabalenka’s match vs Nick Kyrgios?
Swiatek’s words were indeed scathing, as when asked if she watched the match, her swift answer was resounding: “No, I haven’t watched, because I don’t watch stuff like that.”
The Polish superstar, who formerly held the world number one spot, then added: “I think for sure it attracted, like, a lot of attention.
“It was an entertainment, but I wouldn’t say that it had anything to do with, like, social change or any important topics. I think the name was just the same as the one from the Billie Jean King match in ’73. That’s it.”
Swiatek concluded by seeking to uplift women’s tennis as a separate entity to the men’s game, stating: “There were no more similarities because I feel like women’s tennis stands on its own right now. We have so many great athletes and great stories to present, we don’t necessarily need to, like, compare to men’s tennis. It’s a totally different story.
“So yeah, I haven’t watched the match. I only know about how it looked like. But I think, yeah, it was for sure nice entertainment and an exhibition match between these two.”
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Speaking on The Tennis Podcast, Matt Roberts reacted to these words with overwhelming enthusiasm.
He insisted: “I thought it was a great answer from Swiatek.”
The pundit continued: “Quite sort of quietly scathing and damning, but, yeah, I really enjoyed stuff like that. That was a fun turn of phrase. And then I just really liked the point about the WTA has so many stories to present, and we don’t need to compare to the men. Like, that’s it, isn’t it? That is it. And I think she put that across well.”
However, Roberts was unsure of how the rest of the WTA Tour might have felt about it, theorising: “I’m not surprised that Swiatek feels like this. I’m pleased that she said it. I’m not surprised that she feels like this. But I don’t know about the rest of the tour.
“It’s one of those things where I don’t really want loads of people to be asked about it, because I think it is so irrelevant that we don’t need to be talking about it in the weeks to come.
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“I don’t know whether you have a sense of how other players might have felt, like, are people going to be annoyed with Sabalenka, or are they just going to brush it off and, you know, everyone will go about their business?
“I suspect mostly the latter. But people might be quietly annoyed.”
