Iga Swiatek playfully acknowledged her mid-match outfit change, giving credit to her coach as she staged a comeback to triumph over Qinwen Zheng, 3-6, 6-1, 6-1, in the third round of the 2023 Cincinnati Open.
The Pole shared her insights during an on-court interview on Thursday, August 17. When questioned about the reason behind her wardrobe change after the first set and how she managed to lose only a few games thereafter, she thanked her coach Tomasz Wiktorowski.
Swiatek revealed that Wiktorowski once gave her the idea of changing her outfit after losing a set to refresh her mindset for the subsequent one.
“Honestly, it’s because of my coach, he told me a couple of months ago that after losing a set, it might be a good idea to change your outfit so that you can kinda reset and go into the second set on a different vibe,” Swiatek said.
Wrapping up, the World No. 1 shared that she initially had doubts about the idea. However, she decided to give it a shot this time and was surprised to find that it indeed worked. As a result, she playfully thanked her coach for the suggestion.
“I thought this was bullsh*t but I tried this time and it worked, so thank you coach.” she added.
In the quarterfinals, Swiatek is set to take on 10th seed and this year’s Wimbledon champion Marketa Vondrousova.
Iga Swiatek called for greater understanding and kindness from fans on the internet. The appeal came after she received negative messages from some fans following her victory over Qinwen Zheng at the Cincinnati Open.
During a post-match press conference, she expressed her dismay over the excessive criticism and hateful messages directed at her and her team for losing the first set. She urged people to exercise greater consideration and thoughtfulness while sharing comments online.
“The amount of hate and criticism that me and my team get after even losing a set is just ridiculous. I want to kind of encourage people to be more thoughtful when they comment on the Internet,” Iga Swiatek said.
The Pole emphasized her desire to motivate individuals to adopt a more considerate approach and to concentrate on the positive aspects of tennis players. Despite a challenging start to the match, she hoped that people would recognize her problem-solving abilities and her ability to overcome obstacles.
“I would like to encourage people to be more thoughtful and to also focus on the positive side of what we are doing, because today, even though I didn’t start the match well, I would love for people to see how I problem-solved and how I really got out of trouble,” she added.
