Iga Swiatek has worn a ribbon with the Ukrainian flag ever since the country was invaded in 2022, but she doesn't anymore.
The move was heavily applauded at the time as Swiatek's unwavering support for the Ukrainian cause was inspiring. It was a time when many prominent people shied away from publicly making their stance known, which made her public display stand out.
She's contributed to the cause in various ways, from donations to playing charity matches, as she deemed them quite important. The ribbon was more of a symbolic thing, but as it tends to happen, it started to create negative headlines.
In a more and more polarized world, the ribbon became an insult to some who called her out on not being proud enough of being Polish.
Due to that pressure and harassment, Swiatek opted to remove it. She explained the whole story in an interview with Super Express.
Recently there has been a lot of hate and a lot of comments that simply judged me. People were even saying that I am not Polish. I think it started to generate more negative emotions than positive reactions and we decided that the ribbon wasn't the best idea anymore.
Despite removing the ribbon, her stance hasn't changed. She's still a firm backer of Ukraine in the conflict and hopes she's inspired enough countrymen to do the same.
The war is still going on, and support is still needed, maybe even more than before.
“However, we still intend to support Ukraine and I think this is the most important thing. And with what has already happened, wearing the ribbon and the charity match in Krakow, I hope that I have encouraged Poles to help. Besides, there was no need for encouragement, because as a nation we were really united and did a lot.
0 Comments