Iga Swiatek tried to explain her Olympics semi-final defeat to Qinwen Zheng before walking away in tears. The world No. 1 had not lost at Stade Roland Garros since 2021 before Zheng snapped her 25-match winning streak on the Parisian clay.
Swiatek was frustrated after the 6-2 7-5 loss, questioning a call on match point and refusing to shake the umpire’s hand.
She later said she wasn’t “well positioned” during the semi-final, blaming the schedule at the Olympics.
Swiatek’s dream of winning Olympic gold was thwarted when she lost to Zheng in the semis. While the 23-year-old still has the chance to fight for bronze, she was clearly emotional after her defeat.
The top seed gave one TV interview before leaving in tears and skipping the rest of her required media duties. But when she did speak, she offered an excuse for the loss and expressed her issue with having to play every day at the Olympics.
Swiatek had a 6-0 record against Zheng before Thursday. When interviewer Pawel Kuwik said the No. 6 seed appeared to have found solutions for their Olympics clash, she told Eurosport Poland: “Without any doubts. In fact she played… I just had a hole in my backhand. It happens rarely because it is usually my most solid strike.
The five-time Grand Slam champion then explained that her game was affected by the daily matches, something Zheng took advantage of. “I was not technically well positioned because of the stress and the fact that I played my games day by day,” she added.
“We didn’t have time to adjust that and work on that. I know that’s not the justification, but I tried to correct that during the match. Today it didn’t work at all. So, she used that to win the game.”
Swiatek led 4-0 in the second set before the 21-year-old mounted a fightback and won four games in a row. Zheng broke again and served out a 6-2 7-5 victory to reach the final and guarantee herself a medal.
Asked about the dip from 4-0 up, Swiatek said: “It’s the result of the match. So I just messed up.” She then bowed her head and started to cry, walking to the wall and covering her face with her hands.
The Chinese star offered her own perspective on her comeback after being a double-break down in set two. “I think the key is just to play every single point because I remember before when I’m at this stage, I let the match go. I say ‘OK, I lose this set and let’s fight for the third set’. But today, no, I don’t use this mentality,” she explained.
I say (instead) ‘I’m just going to fight for every single point. Let’s see what’s going to happen. I’m going to play smart, wait for my chance’. Little by little, I started to get back into the match. There’s still a lot of competition inside (me). I just feel right now I’m more patient with tennis. I found my level there.
