Iga Swiatek had a spat with Danielle Collins at the 2024 Paris Olympics, which left the Polish player puzzled and she still has no idea what happened.
The Polish No. 1 isn't generally known as a controversial player, but she's no saint, either. She has a few quirks that show up at times, and they could be considered problematic.
The most famous of these is her stopping of play when her opponent is about to serve, which tends to occur in critical moments of the match. Fans have pointed out that it's unfair but she keeps doing it fairly regularly.
Collins, on the other hand, is known for a controversy or two. She's not a disrespectful player, but she will speak her mind when she feels like it, and it happened a few times this year.
She doesn't care about invoking other players, either, as demonstrated by her telling Maria Sakkari to shut up during one of their matches. Her most recent spat on a tennis court happened during her Olympic clash with Swiatek.
It was quite an emotional match. It went to a third set, and the American was forced to retire after feeling unwell. The incident happened as they were about to shake hands, and Collins accused Swiatek of being 'insincere'.
We didn't know what was said when they shook hands other than Swiatek looking puzzled after Collins told her something. The American would then admit to the media after the match that she told Swiatek that she didn't have to be insincere, and the World No. 1 player told the media that she had no idea what the American meant by it.
We don't really know what she meant by that, but some had taken it as the American alluding to some other disagreement they might have had in the past, as Swiatek tried to wish her a happy recovery.
Those are just some of the rumors about the instance, but as Swiatke said, she didn't know what her opponent meant. She's maintaining that position as she recently sat down with a Polish WP SportoweFaktovky.
The five-time major champion just repeated what she told the media in Paris: that she doesn't know what Collins meant by it. Even after all this time, Swiatek has no idea what it could be related to.
"To this day, I still don't understand where her comment came from."
Swiatek also added that their clash didn't impact her match against Qnnwen Zheng, which ended up being her weakest match this year.
"I decided there was no point in looking into it. I focused on myself. I'm a professional, and things like that don't affect how I play tennis later on."
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