"This & Aryna Sabalenka's 'I don't watch women's tennis,' we have horrible ambassadors": Fans react to Iga Swiatek's remark on lack of WTA role models

Iga Swiatek's statement about not having any WTA players to follow or look up to when she was younger has left tennis fans disappointed.

During her pre-tournament press conference at the 2024 Madrid Open, Swiatek was asked for her thoughts on Garbine Muguruza's recent retirement from professional tennis.

In response, the World No. 1 disclosed that Muguruza was one of her favorite women's players growing up, admitting that she didn't have any WTA role models to follow, unlike how she looked up to Rafael Nadal on the men's side.

"Actually, when I was younger I watched her achievements thinking that maybe she was going to be my favorite WTA player because I always liked Rafa. I never really had anyone on the WTA to follow, so Garbiñe was one of them for a while until I started playing on the tour, as it was pretty rare to be a crazy fan of anyone," Iga Swiatek said.

"She is a great player and a good person. I wasn't surprised that she retired because she wasn't playing for a long time, but I always liked her. She won two Slams, played all these Grand Slam finals and everything. So I believed that she could maintain her level, which is not easy" she added.

Tennis fans were appalled at Iga Swiatek's statement, particularly in light of Aryna Sabalenka recently disclosing that she preferred to watch men's tennis over women's tennis because the men's game was more "interesting" and had more "logic."

"These girls are just weird, if the #2 player doesn’t watch wta matches and the #1 has/had no one to “follow” so she probably doesn’t watch ghe girls either how do they expect any support?" one fan commented.

"I never really had anyone on the WTA to follow" … 💀 Oh Rybaqueena and Gauff better save us from wta haters no1 and no.2 😭😭😭," another fan chimed in.

"Between this and Sab's 'i don't watch women's tennis'...we have some horrible ambassadors for the game. Yikes," said another.

Other fans were shocked by Swiatek's claim that she lacked WTA players to follow, given that she grew up during Venus and Serena Williams' dominance on tour.

"Wasn’t she like 10-13 when Serena was still winning multiple slams a year??? 🙄🙄🙄," one fan posted.

''I never really had anyone on the WTA to follow". Maybe they didn’t show any Venus and Serena matches in Poland because there’s no other explanation," another fan wrote.

"All the hard work of Serena, Venus Bjk etc to make women’s tennis a sport to be in the limelight and the modern girls act like there was nothing interesting to watch in woman’s tennis," said yet another.

Some fans went as far as to denounce the entire generation of WTA players for their perceived disrespect towards the older generations who paved the way for them.

""Never had anyone to follow"?? These new girls be saying anything, istg. Takes like these from top tour players is exactly why WTA is in the red. Embarrassing," a fan shared.

"I'll say it again like I said it before. No one dislikes more women tennis than the women tennis players. It's such a shame this generation is like this. Put some respect on the williams sisters, sharapova, bjk, sanchez vicario, randwanska!!," another fan commented.

"This current gen are so disrespectful to Serena, Venus, Sharapova etc like the 2000s-2010s were an amazing time," another fan contended.

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2024 Madrid Open 2R: Iga Swiatek to take on Wang Xiyu; Aryna Sabalenka faces Magda Linette

Aryna Sabalenka (L) and Iga Swiatek

Last year's runner-up Iga Swiatek and defending champion Aryna Sabalenka are set to begin their campaigns at the 2024 Madrid Open in the second round, following first-round byes.

Iga Swiatek takes on Wang Xiyu in her opening match, with the duo set to lock horns in their maiden tour-level encounter. Wang claimed a hard-fought 6-7(5), 7-6(4), 6-2 over Ana Bogdan to book her place against the World No. 1.

Sabalenka, meanwhile, kicks off her title defense against Magda Linette. The Belarusian enjoys a flawless 3-0 lead in their head-to-head record, beating the Pole 7-6(1), 6-2 in their latest encounter in the 2023 Australian Open semifinals.