The top women’s tennis player Iga Swiatek was the subject of criticism from a former pro who is not happy with part of the four-time Grand Slam champion’s on-court attire.
A former tennis player has criticised Iga Swiatek for wearing her hat too low. A cap is usually part of the 22-year-old’s on-court attire and former world No. 5 Jimmy Arias has launched a damning assessment of the four-time Grand Slam champion, claiming she is not good for the sport.
Tennis star collapses at tournament weeks after Wimbledon incident
“I want to see her personality,” the 1981 French Open mixed doubles champion told the ‘Inside In’ podcast: “I don’t think she’s been great for women’s tennis. She wears her hat so low that you can’t even see her face or her eyes during a match.
“So you don’t get a connection as much as you could. I don’t mind her getting angry in some ways, but I want to see her personality.” Swiatek added another title to her résumé on Sunday as she triumphed in front of her home crowd at the Poland Open.
She progressed through the tournament without dropping a set and defeated Laura Siegemund 6-0, 6-1 in the final to claim victory. “It’s not easy to play in Warsaw, but I’m so happy that we could manage and do everything we could today, after a pretty tiring day yesterday,” she said after the match.
“I wanted to put it all in and go for it. I’m pretty happy that I did.” The reigning Roland Garros champion is not the only top player who has been the topic of Arias’ conversations in recent weeks.
The American took aim at Nick Kyrgios for the amount of time he has spent away from the game. The Australian has played just one match this year, which came at the Stuttgart Open in June when he lost to Yibing Wu as he attempted an injury comeback.
“He’s played once so far this year. I’m not sure (his) wrist, knee (or) his tattoo is hurting him too much – (from playing) Pokemon maybe. I don’t know,” Arias said. “The guy is so talented, he doesn’t really train, he doesn’t do all the things that are actually difficult and make it hard.
“And he doesn’t seem to care, although obviously he does.” Kyrgios, never afraid to speak his mind, issued a strong response to Arias’ comments on Twitter.
“You got some sort of issue? Although I had no idea who you were before my mate messaged me 10 mins ago,” the Australian wrote. “I’d appreciate if you kept my name out of your mouth to keep you relevant, well at least to give you some form of credibility.”
