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Iga Swiatek recently clarified her position on the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war after she was seen missing her trademark symbol of support for Ukraine.
Swiatek has been extremely vocal about her support for Ukraine throughout the country’s ongoing war with Russia and Belarus. During her matches, the Polish star has also been donning a ribbon on her hat, representing Ukraine’s flag. However, during her latest tournament appearance at the 2023 Stuttgart Open, Iga Swiatek was seen sans one.
This occurrence caught the eye of the tennis world and Swiatek promptly provided clarification. The 21-year-old stated that she is still very much an advocate of brutality in Ukraine, and the incident was nothing more than a slip on her part.
“I forgot. That's just me being stupid. Nothing changed. Yeah, I forgot,” Iga Swiatek said in the press conference at the Stuttgart Open.
The Pole also expressed her opinion on IOC’s recent decision to allow Russian and Belarusian athletes to compete in global sporting events. She stated that while human rights are important, principles related to war shouldn't be compromised.
Iga Swiatek had earlier voiced her opposition to the acceptance of athletes from aggressor countries.
“Human rights are important, but I always feel like there are values that you have to treat respectfully, and war is not something that we want. I was pretty open about that since the beginning,” she said.
The three-time Grand Slam champion further conveyed her displeasure at the fact that the current situation is more complicated than it was at the beginning of the war. She noted that stricter measures were implemented against athletes, including tennis players from Russia and Belarus last year, which are now being relaxed without any change in their war status.
“Right now, the situation is pretty complicated. At first, they were banned in other sports, not in tennis. Then it changed a little bit. They are starting to be allowed, the Russian and Belarusian players, which is pretty confusing, because I feel, nothing changed in Ukraine,” she said. “It's heart breaking.”
"There are tensions" – Iga Swiatek says it is "tricky" to get along with Russian and Belarusian athletes
Iga Swiatek confessed that she wasn’t exactly in a position to influence global decisions, and thus had to keep competing despite the circumstances.
“Me as just one athlete, I don't have like full influence on what's going on, so we have to compete our best no matter what the circumstances are,” she said.
Swiatek stated that regardless of the decision in global sports, she is ultimately hoping for togetherness in the sporting community.
“I just hope, no matter what the decisions is gonna be, the sport will be able to put people together and not separate them,” she said.
She, however, also insisted that, although eager, it isn’t easy to mend fences with athletes from aggressor countries, owing to existing tensions.
“There are tensions, so it may be tricky and hard to do,” Swiatek confessed.
Swiatek is currently defending her title at the Stuttgart Open. The 21-year-old is through to the quarter-finals and will face off against former World No. 1 Karolina Pliskova.
