Paris (AFP) – Iga Swiatek was accused of being “insincere” by Danielle Collins after a stormy Olympics clash on Wednesday in which the Pole was left struggling to breathe after being felled by a pile-driver backhand by the powerful American. In a tense quarter-final, Collins retired at 1-4 down in the final set having left the court for a medical timeout. When the pair shook hands at the net, the 30-year-old Collins exchanged heated words with a bewildered Swiatek.
“I told Iga she didn’t have to be insincere about my injury. I haven’t had the best experience and I don’t really feel like anybody needs to be insincere,” said Collins, without elaborating on the precise cause of her anger. “They can be the way that they are, and I can accept that, and I don’t need the fakeness.” Swiatek said she was puzzled by Collins’s criticism. “I would rather not get into this because this is her last year on tour,” said the top seed. “I haven’t had a chance actually to tell her that she had a great journey and she really played well. So, I want to give her all the respect possible.”
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There had already been a worrying moment in the opening game of the third set when the powerful Collins drilled a fierce backhand into the body of Swiatek as she approached the net. Swiatek took evasive action but was still struck a painful blow on the chest. She crouched on the ground, catching her breath before continuing. Collins, ranked ninth, immediately crossed to Swiatek’s side of the net to apologise. “I couldn’t breathe for some time,” explained Swiatek. “I guess with the adrenaline that you have on court, you don’t feel these kind of things too hard. So I could get back in the game really quickly.”
That exchange was quickly followed by Collins expressing her unhappiness that Swiatek had held up her racquet as she prepared to serve, claiming fans were distracting her. “There is nobody behind me…play at the server’s pace,” Collins barked at the Pole. Four-time French Open champion Swiatek has now won 25 matches in a row at Roland Garros and becomes the first Pole to make the last four in any Olympic tennis event. She will face China’s Zheng Qinwen for a place in the gold medal match.
Swiatek swept the first set 6-1 before Collins levelled the quarter-final by claiming the second set 6-2. Collins’s challenge unravelled when she required an off-court injury time-out after three games of the final set. Two games later, and with tears in her eyes, the American retired with an injury. Collins said she had been physically restricted by having had to play three hours on Tuesday when the temperatures rocketed to the mid-30s Celsius.
“I had a heat stroke. Nearly collapsed when I came off court, and I was on a medical table for three hours,” she said. “I wasn’t able to receive cool water during the entire match. Didn’t have insulated bottles. I overheated, having full body convulsions and somehow played doubles. The conditions here have been brutal. And I suffered the consequences of that last night and today.”
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