Iga Swiatek says it’s completely not true that her intention was to throw Katie Boulter off her sport when she known as a medical timeout early within the third set of their United Cup thriller.
On Thursday, the Polish tennis star and the top-ranked British tennis participant had been within the midst of a grueling battle and there wasn’t actually a lot separating the 2.
After making the primary transfer within the third set and breaking Swiatek for a 2-1 lead, Boulter needed to look ahead to a number of minutes earlier than motion resumed as a result of the world No. 2 left the court docket for a medical timeout.
Iga Swiatek© X
When the five-time Grand Slam champion returned, she immediately bought the break again within the fourth sport and earned a break within the tenth sport when the world No. 24 was serving to remain within the match.
Through the third set – but additionally after the match completed – the previous world No. 1 confronted criticism and scrutiny from followers on social media as some immediately accused the 23-year-old of making an attempt to throw Boulter off her sport.
Swiatek responds to the backlash: I did not really feel properly, I took a medical timeout as a result of I needed to
“No, I wasn’t expecting that. I didn’t take medical timeout to throw Katie off her game. I did it because I had to and I didn’t feel well. But I took some, you know, painkillers, and they started working pretty quickly. I was able to move a bit better,” the Pole defined.
“But yeah, I felt that she got distracted a bit. She missed some shots right after the break, but it wasn’t my intention, obviously, like, I don’t do these kind of things to do it tactically. It was just that I needed it. So yeah.”
In the meantime, Swiatek and Co. are by way of to the United Cup semifinal because the Polish star is about to face Elena Rybakina on Saturday after which additionally presumably play in blended doubles.
