Iga Swiatek urges Polish media to ‘leave me alone’ after not 'pleasant’ treatment in light of struggles before Wimbledon triumph

Iga Swiatek hit back at the criticism she has received in a turbulent 13-month period from winning Roland-Garros in 2024 to her triumph at Wimbledon on Saturday. The 23-year-old romped to two bagels in a straight-sets win over Amanda Anisimova, and hopes this will be enough to earn some respect from her native Polish press. She won her sixth Grand Slam title at SW19.

Iga Swiatek hit back at the Polish media following her stunning straight-sets win over Amanda Anisimova in the Wimbledon final.

Swiatek silenced her doubters with a masterful 6-0 6-0 victory over the American at SW19 to win her first grass-court Grand Slam.

It has been a challenging 12 months for the 23-year-old, who had not won a title since her 2024 Roland-Garros triumph.

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The six-time winner was quizzed about the perception of her by the Polish press, and urged them to ‘let me do my job.’

She said in her post-match press conference: "Well, honestly, the thing is that we as public people and as athletes, we can't really react to everything that's going on. We got to focus on ourselves.

"Obviously, sometimes it's easier to do that, sometimes it's harder. For sure the past months, how the media sometimes describe me - and I have to say, unfortunately, the Polish media - how they treated me and my team wasn't really pleasant.

"I hope they will just leave me alone and let me do my job because obviously you can see that we know what we are doing, and I have the best people around me.

"I have already proved a lot. I know people want more and more, but it's my own process and my own life and my own career.

"Hopefully I'm going to have freedom from them, as well, to let me do my job the way I want it."

Swiatek was also quizzed about the significance of this first title at Wimbledon, and admitted the magnitude of the achievement felt bigger compared to her four successes at the French Open.

She explained: "I think the fact that it's on grass, for sure, makes it more special, I would say, and more unexpected.

"So for sure, it feels like the emotions are bigger because on Roland-Garros I know I can play well, and I know I can show it every year. Here, I wasn't sure of that. I also needed to prove that to myself.

"I'm not going to rank them [the significance of each Grand Slam title] because I have so much respect for the other tournaments.

"I worked really hard to win all the other Slams. So there's no point choosing between them.

"But this one and the US Open for sure feel better because no one expected that. It wasn't a relief.

"It was more about playing good tennis and working to make it happen without this baggage on your shoulders."

Swiatek admitted that not being the favourite helped her to get over the line at Wimbledon, and that she could play with the shackles off.

She continued: "I could really focus on getting better and developing as a player rather than everybody just asking me to win, win, and nothing is good besides winning.

"I kind of enjoyed that because expectations were a bit lower."

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