Iga Swiatek Breaks Silence On Being Harassed By Obsessed Hater In Miami
NewsMonday, 14 April 2025 at 17:48
Iga Swiatek opened up about the incident with an obsessed hater whom she encountered at the 2025 Miami Open.
Swiatek, like most tennis players, is in the spotlight anywhere she goes. Her practice and tournament schedule can be found online, so if someone wants to make her life difficult, it's not too challenging to find out where and when she will be present.
That's what one of her fans, or better said, haters, did during this year's Miami Open. The person attended one of Swiatek's practice sessions and shouted disgraceful remarks towards the Pole.
It was an ugly incident, but the WTA was able to react quickly, providing Swiatek with extra security during the tournament in Miami. Now, back in Europe, she spoke about the incident in detail.
Swiatek spoke about the hater during her pre-tournament press conference at the 2025 Porsche Tennis Grand Prix in Stuttgart.
She said that the remarks she heard during the practice weren't so bad in her opinion, but she also saw some threats posted by the person online, which is why the five-time Grand Slam champion was happy that the WTA was able to react quickly.
"Well, I wouldn't call it a threat because it wasn't that hard. I mean, for sure there was a fan that wanted to, like, disrupt my rhythm. Well, I try to focus on the fans that are giving me support. But obviously when you hear something like that, you want to react."
"I think WTA helped us, helped me, to feel protected. Well, actually, the thing that I heard wasn't a threat, but I think there were some threats on the Internet. So the WTA helped me react quickly and made me feel secure."
"I'm happy there is someone, like, overlooking us and helping us to react in this kind of situation. Yeah, that's what happened. I'm happy that I have my team around me that helps me in this kind of situation."
During the press conference, Swiatek was also asked about her social media post in which she detailed her recent struggles and also explained her incident with a ball boy in Indian Wells.
She was asked whether she now prepares for the clay-court season differently, trying to emphasize mental health. The Pole explained that the preparation hasn't changed a lot for her.
"No, I think preparation obviously worked in previous years, so it has been similar. The only difference is I had more time to play on clay this year. For sure, my goal is to, like, focus on myself. Yeah, it hasn't been easy for the past months because after having such great seasons, I've been in the spotlight and my every move is kind of judged, the expectations are high."
"But my goal is to focus on myself and focus on the process, on what I want to change on the court. For sure, with Wim we have many ideas of how I can improve my technique. On the practice court, it has been looking pretty well, so I want to implement that in matches."
"I try to keep myself busy with these things. I'm pretty sure that if I am going to work hard, the results are also going to come after that. People also, I don't know, they will say whatever they want to say. You sometimes need to ignore that."
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