Wimbledon champion Iga Swiatek was left furious at the US Open when a reporter on Thursday quizzed her about her hair.
The Polish star, the World No. 2 and a previous US Open champion in 2022, was talking to the media after recording her second-round victory over Suzan Lamens in New York in three sets.
The No. 2 seed in Queens was discussing her game when another question came in asking if she would wear beads in her hair like her rival Naomi Osaka does.
Swiatek, 24, was visibly shocked at the comment, saying: ‘What kind of question is that? Excuse me? If I wanted to weave beads in my hair? No. What’s going on?’
The question apparently came from a Polish reporter and Swiatek has been unhappy with coverage in her homeland before, specifically the scrutiny placed on her relationship with her psychologist, Daria Abramowicz.
After Swiatek won Wimbledon earlier this year, she hit out at stories scrutinizing her team and demanded more respect from reporters following her career.
Iga Swiatek snapped at a Polish reporter after being quizzed about her appearance
Previously, Swiatek has been unhappy at scrutiny over her psychologist, Daria Abramowicz
‘We as public people and as athletes, we can’t really react to everything going on,’ she said. ‘We’ve got to focus on ourselves.
‘Obviously sometimes it’s easier to do that, sometimes it’s harder. For sure, the past months, how the media sometimes describe me – and I’ve got to say, unfortunately, Polish media, how they treated me and my team – it wasn’t really pleasant.
‘I hope they will just leave me alone and let me do my job because obviously you can see that we know what we are doing, and I have the best people around me.
‘I have already proved a lot. I know people want more and more, but it’s my own process and my own life and my own career.’
Back in March, Polish publication Interia Sports published an interview with another leading sports psychologist, Dariusz Nowicki, who said Swiatek’s relationship with Abramowicz was ‘disturbed’.
‘If we were to look at this relationship only and exclusively from the point of view of strictly psychological workshop, then it is indeed a disturbed relationship, in which certain boundaries of professional distance between the psychologist and the client are crossed,’ he said of their friendship.
‘A certain psychological distance in relation to the client, who is the athlete, or in general to the training team, which is with the athlete or team, is essential.
Swiatek’s rival, Naomi Osaka, wore beads in her hair during the first round of the tournament
Swiatek won WImbledon earlier this year and at 24 has won eight Grand Slam singles titles
‘Someone in this group must maintain some common sense and emotional self-control, and the psychologist should be such a person the most.’
His comments came after Swiatek was criticized for slamming a ball in the direction of a ball boy – and her team – during her Indian Wells loss in March to teenager Mirra Andreeva.
Swiatek, who was won eight Grand Slam singles titles so far in her illustrious career, returns to US Open action on Saturday against Anna Kalinskaya.