In the heat of high-level Olympic tennis, emotions are bound to run wild. What happened between world No. 1, Poland’s Iga Swiatek, and the USA’s Danielle Collins during the women’s singles quarterfinals on Wednesday in Paris is no exception.
It’s practically an inevitability of competition.
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Tensions between the two tennis stars seemingly started during a scary moment in the final set. When Collins volleyed a ball back from center court that accidentally hit Swiatek in the ribs, the Polish athlete was staggered for a moment.
Fortunately for Swiatek, after Collins and a match official checked on her, she was apparently OK enough to continue playing:
Danielle Collins hits the ball straight into Iga Swiatek at a rocket speed 🚀, she was on ground for a moment 😯 #PARIS2024pic.twitter.com/BYR6J45bHt
— FirstSportz (@sportzfirst1) July 31, 2024
Later, lip-readers thought Collins quietly called out Swiatek for seemingly trying to delay her while she was serving:
Danielle Collins to Iga Swiatek during their match at the Olympics:
“There’s like no one behind me. Play at the servers pace.”
Definitely a lot of tension in this match.
— The Tennis Letter (@TheTennisLetter) July 31, 2024
Collins would later suffer an apparent abdominal injury, ostensibly from dehydration resulting from temperatures that reached the upper 90s (Fahrenheit) in Paris on Wednesday. The ailment would eventually force Collins to retire from the match, conceding defeat to Swiatek, with the Polish player leading the third set 4-1 at the time.
When Collins and Swiatek greeted each other at the end of the match, tennis fans thought their handshake seemed a little more heated than you’d expect for a customary goodbye. Their assumptions proved correct.
According to Christopher Clarey, Collins thought Swiatek was showing off “fakeness” by being “insincere” about well-wishes for her injury.
Danielle Collins was asked what she said to Iga Swiatek when she spoke to her after retiring from their quarterfinal with what Collins later explained was an abdominal muscle injury.#olympics #tennis pic.twitter.com/ycnCj4etaH
— Christopher Clarey 🇺🇸 🇫🇷 🇪🇸 (@christophclarey) July 31, 2024
In response, Swiatek reportedly denied Collins’ accusation, asserting she’s never done anything “nasty” to the American player while maintaining she was trying to congratulate Collins on her career, who is officially retiring from tennis at the end of this current season with the aim of starting a family.
More from Poland’s Interia Sport (translated):
“Well, I won’t argue about it [Collins’ insincere accusation] because I’ve never done anything nasty to her [Collins],” Swiatek said. “I rather wanted to congratulate her on her successful career because we all know that this is her last year on tour … Honestly, I don’t know what she meant because we didn’t even have any interactions that could have caused her to say that to me.”
Phew. I suppose all of this chaos is par for the course for elite competitors playing for their countries, but what a whirlwind to unpack. If there is still some lingering animosity between Swiatek and Collins after this, here’s hoping they ensure it’s all water under the bridge in the near future.
