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Iga Swiatek's one-sided loss against Coco Gauff at the Madrid Open semifinal has drawn several reactions regarding the Pole's on-court performance and her current mental state. Serena Williams' former coach, Rennae Stubbs, defended Swiatek, who lost 1-6, 1-6 to Gauff in the Spanish capital.
The match was difficult for the Pole, who broke down into tears after it was over. There were encouraging words from many quarters, including ATP star Casper Ruud. The Norwegian and former World No. 2 offered kind words to Swiatek, trying to motivate her to come back from this setback.
However, replying to Ruud's post on X, one tennis fan commented, saying that Gauff had done her job in knocking out Swiatek at Madrid. The fan also went on to say that this loss was required for the Pole, as she lacked humility.
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"I am grateful Coco did her job and moved into the Final. Iga seems to think she can be no.1 all the time, time for her to learn some humility." said the fan.
It was soon pointed out to his fan that Swiatek had just lost her grandfather, and she was not in her best mental state at the moment. When the fan claimed that she had no idea regarding that, Rennae Stubbs jumped into the conversation, strongly defending Swiatek, and urging people not to make judgements about players without knowing what was going on in their personal lives.
"Well maybe you should consider that there are things going on in people’s lives and being rude about them and to them is something u should consider before u get on your keyboard to be outright disrespectful and rude to someone who’s just trying her best daily," wrote Stubbs.
The final in Madrid is all set to be played between Coco Gauff and Aryna Sabalenka, two of Swiatek's closest rivals.
Iga Swiatek is in danger of losing her No.2 ranking
If Gauff wins the title in Madrid, she will go past Swiatek to become No. 2 on the WTA rankings. This is because the Pole dropped over 600 points after her semifinal loss; she was the defending champion in Madrid.
Even though the points gap between Gauff and Swiatek would not be that big, the challenge for Swiatek would be to hold her position in the top three. The Pole has a considerable amount of points to defend, as she won the titles in Rome and Roland Garros last year.
Swiatek's title defense record this year has not been good as she failed to defend her WTA 1000 titles in Qatar and Indian Wells, two places where she has historically dominated. She lost against Jelena Ostapenko in Qatar and lost against Mirra Andreeva in Indian Wells.
