'Not A Life Anymore': Swiatek Speaks Honestly About Relationship With Social Media
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Iga Swiatek has opened up about adapting her social media usage to find the balance that works best for her.
Unfortunately, many athletes worldwide deal with social media abuse. The toxicity is often highest for females who reach the top of their sports, meaning someone like Swiatek is a significant target for online trolls.
Many female tennis players have spoken about social media hate and attempting to deal with it. This includes WTA Finals champion Coco Gauff, who has been subjected to much vitriol as a successful and inspiring young woman of color.
Gauff admitted after triumphing at the WTA Finals that she enjoys silencing her online critics and poked fun at those who had accused her of having a bad season. The 20-year-old often confronts trolls directly and puts them in their places.
Four-time Grand Slam champion Naomi Osaka is another player who often receives much social media abuse. The Japanese star admitted that she is still learning how to manage online critics despite dealing with the issue for many years.
2022 WTA Finals champion Caroline Garcia also discussed the hateful comments she receives. The Frenchwoman's emotional remarks were received positively by other WTA players, who admitted to dealing with the same issue.
Garcia recently announced that Swiatek had appeared on the Tennis Insider Podcast, founded by her and Borja Duran. The full episode will be released on January 6th, and is sure to receive much attention.
Swiatek recently accepted a one-month suspension after testing positive for the banned substance trimetazidine after the melatonin tablets she bought were contaminated. The Pole served most of that ban provisionally and was cleared to return for the start of the 2025 season.
That topic was discussed on the podcast, and fans can view it when the full episode is released. However, a clip of the appearance that showed Swiatek talking about her relationship with social media was already released.
The four-time French Open champion described how she used to stay rigidly focused on tennis and tried to avoid being on social media. However, Swiatek now seeks to find a better balance to enjoy her life more while still being dedicated to tennis.
"I would say before I was only tennis, tennis, tennis. I even – I’m deleting Instagram, Twitter, the notification on my emails. So at the beginning it was a good way for me to be more focused."
"But now you just can’t do that anymore because if you’re going to do that for like 40 weeks per year, that’s not a life anymore."
Swiatek has extended that approach to her general life. She used an example of going out to dinner until midnight after the semifinals of last season's Italian Open to illustrate her new approach.
"So, I am mixing it up. For example, Rome was a good tournament for me this year because my friends were there. I remember after the semifinal I went to dinner and I finished at like midnight. This is something I wouldn’t do a year ago."
"It was fine. I managed to be focused the same way. I won the tournament and I was really happy that I’m trying to enjoy life a bit more. You need to balance that when you have these days off."
