PARIS: Iga Swiatek was accused of “dishonesty” by Danielle Collins after Wednesday’s storming Olympic clash that left the Pole gasping for air after being beaten by a backhand from the powerful American.
In a thrilling quarterfinal, Collins retired at 1-4 in the final set after leaving the court for a medical timeout.
Collins, 30, exchanged excited words with a confused Swiatek as the pair shook hands at the net.
“I told Iza that she doesn’t have to be honest about my injury. I don’t have the best experience and I really don’t feel like anyone needs to be dishonest,” Collins said, without specifying the exact cause of her injury. anger.
“They can be who they are and I can accept that and I don’t need fakeness.
Swiatek said she was confused by Collins’ criticism.
“I’d rather not go into it because this is her last year on tour,” said the top seed.
“I didn’t really get a chance to tell her that she had a great trip and that she played really well. So I want to give her all the respect I can.”
There was a disturbing moment in the opening game of the third set when the powerful Collins drilled a wild backhand into Swiatek’s body as she approached the net.
Swiatek took evasive action but still received a painful blow to the chest. She crouched on the ground, gasping for breath before continuing.
Collins, seeded ninth, immediately went to Swiatek’s side of the net to apologize.
“I couldn’t breathe for a while,” Swiatek explained.
“I think with the adrenaline that you have on the court, you don’t feel those things too hard. So I was able to get back into the game really quickly.”
The exchange was quickly followed by Collins expressing her unhappiness that Swiatek picked up her racket as she was about to serve, claiming she was being distracted by the fans.
“There’s no one behind me… play at the server’s pace,” Collins snapped at the Pole.
Four-time French Open champion Swiatek won 25 straight matches at Roland Garros to become the first Pole to reach the last four at an Olympic tennis tournament.
She will face China’s Zheng Qinwen to advance to the gold match.
Swiatek swept the first set 6-1 before Collins equalized in the quarterfinals to take the second set 6-2.
Collins’ challenge unraveled when she called a timeout after three games of the final set.
Two matches later and with tears in her eyes, the American retired with an injury.
Collins said she was physically challenged by having to play for three hours on Tuesday when temperatures soared into the mid-30s.
“I had heatstroke. When I came off the court I almost collapsed and I was on the doctor’s table for three hours,” she said.
“During the whole match, I was unable to take cold water. I didn’t have insulated bottles. I overheated. I had full body cramps and somehow I was playing doubles.” The conditions here were brutal. And I suffered the consequences last night and today.”
