Iga Swiatek arrived in Paris as the top favorite to win the gold medal at the 2024 Olympic Games, but she failed on that mission.
The Pole player has been almost unplayable on the tennis courts in Paris. She won 31 of 32 of the last matches played at Roland Garros before arriving in the French capital for the Olympics.
Arriving in Paris with that type of track record, she was expected to do really well, and an undisputed favorite for the gold medal. Anything but that would have been considered a failure for the World No. 1, and that's why she was so disappointed after losing her semi-final match to Qinwen Zheng.
The loss against Zheng was stunning in many ways. Mostly because she was overwhelmed by the Chinese player. That was a massive problem because Swiatek appeared to be hugely confident heading into the Olympics, and this loss snapped her back to reality.
She talked about it openly with the media as she's never been one to hide much. We've seen her cry on the courts, and she has talked about her mental health before. What she had to say after the Olympic Games was interesting because she laid the blame on herself.
"I actually realized yesterday that I wasn’t really playing for myself. I was more playing for everybody else, for the country, for my team, for everybody that hoped that I’m going to win a medal and probably win a gold medal. I wasn’t quite aware how deep it was in me and how much baggage that was. I know that I haven’t been playing my A-game here probably."
Swiatek looked great on the tennis courts for the most part, even though she didn't really look her best in some matches. In her own assessment, she wasn't playing her best tennis, which is really true for the match against Zheng.
That was a bad performance, but she recognized that she was arrogant in the way she approached pressure, trying to learn humility.
"I wasn’t feeling like I can move really naturally and in a way that I’m used to on clay. I’m happy anyway that I pushed through that and I’m here with a bronze medal."
"I was maybe a little bit too arrogant with myself because I thought that I handled so much pressure before that I think I’m going to handle this one as well. And now I actually am really motivated to work even harder and I think I’m going to have a little bit more humility."
In the end, it wasn't all for nothing because she still had some cool memories. She got to play in front of her father at the Olympics, who is a former Olympian himself.
She won the bronze medal, which is not the one she wanted, but it's still a medal, and there are only three to be won, and many athletes who want one.