Iga Swiatek is known as a reserved person, an introvert, in her own words, but she does something that many advised her not to do, and she talked about it recently.
Athletes, like many public persons, are in the spotlight all the time. As individuals with a heightened public profile, they're far more subjected to public opinion. And contrary to popular belief, it's not necessarily positive.
Such things can impact individuals on a personal level, and athletes are generally advised to stay away from social media. There is nothing productive about it for them, and the same applies to regular people as well.
Far too many people are very comfortably saying things behind the anonymity of the internet that they would never say directly. For athletes, this manifests in a lot of abuse.
Tennis players have talked about it often enough, and like anyone else, Swiatek is not immune to it. In fact, she engages quite a bit with public opinion, which is generally not something an athlete may be looking to do.
It can leave a mark on a player, but she does it anyway, but only after the tournaments, which is interesting as she's a self-described introvert.
"I decide that myself, but I usually isolate myself quite a bit during tournaments. I only go online to post after each match. I don't read any comments. But I usually catch up after the tournaments because I want to be aware of what people are saying."
Swiatek further confirmed what's been known for a while, and it's that comments by fans can be hurtful. Even with that, the World No. 1 player thinks it's worth knowing what others think.
"Unfortunately, many people do not realize what the life of an athlete looks like. There is no point in clinging to such opinions, although in my opinion it is still worth knowing what others think of you. Unfortunately, people like to jump to conclusions."
Not all messages are negative, of course. There are plenty of very positive and supportive messages from people. She received plenty of those after losing in the Olympics semi-final, but overall, it does tend to skew more towards negativity. It's just human nature, in a way.
Still, those positive messages that do come true help Swiatek, and that's why she keeps engaging with them. She disregards the bad comments while keeping the positive ones, and it seems to be working for her.
"I don't want to answer or explain, because I realize that a lot of people support me and I wouldn't be able to explain everything. I simply accept that such things are a part of my life."
"Very often, I receive very positive messages. This was the case right after the defeat in the semi-final in Paris, when messages of support from fans and friends, and even from other athletes, helped me a lot."
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