Iga Swiatek in tears as she secures bronze medal just a day after Olympics heartache

Iga Swiatek was reduced to tears after winning bronze for Poland in the women’s singles against Slovakia’s Anna Karolina Schmiedlova. Swiatek is a star on the clay court at Roland Garros having won four of the last five French Open titles, so was a favorite for gold in Paris.

However, she failed to beat Qinwen and refused to shake the umpire’s hand afterward before crying in an interview with Eurosport.

The 23-year-old then walked away and was still visibly emotional, but she returned to winning ways a day later. Swiatek cruised to victory over Schmiedlova to win bronze for Poland, which could certainly be just the first Olympic medal of her career.

When sitting on her chair after the match she could be seen crying again, although it appeared to be happy tears this time. It marks a significant improvement on her maiden Olympics outing at Tokyo 2020 when she lost in the second round to Paula Badosa.

Whilst there may still be a belief that Swiatek should have won gold, her bronze has helped to take Poland to four medals overall in Paris.

Swiatek is a star on the clay court at Roland Garros having won four of the last five French Open titles, so was a favorite for gold in Paris.

However, she failed to beat Qinwen and refused to shake the umpire’s hand afterward before crying in an interview with Eurosport.

The 23-year-old then walked away and was still visibly emotional, but she returned to winning ways a day later. It marks a significant improvement on her maiden Olympics outing at Tokyo 2020 when she lost in the second round to Paula Badosa.

Whilst there may still be a belief that Swiatek should have won gold, her bronze has helped to take Poland to four medals overall in Paris. Swiatek beat Irina-Camelia Begu in the first round before subsequent victories over Diane Parry and Wang Xiyu took her to the last eight.

She then beat Danielle Collins, who was forced to retire at 4-1 down in the third set due to injury.

There were tense exchanges between the two during the match that saw Collins become frustrated by her opponent for disrupting her rhythm on serve.

Swiatek beat Irina-Camelia Begu in the first round before subsequent victories over Diane Parry and Wang Xiyu took her to the last eight.

She then beat Danielle Collins, who was forced to retire at 4-1 down in the third set due to injury.

There were tense exchanges between the two during the match that saw Collins become frustrated by her opponent for disrupting her rhythm on serve.

Swiatek was also hit by a ball in the stomach and went down to her knees and said after: “I could not breathe for a moment. It hurt for a bit.”

But after the match, Collins appeared to confront the four-time French Open champion, who was left shocked by this.

Collins then explained: “I told Iga she didn’t have to be insincere about my injury.