Tennis Swiatek hits back at her critics after Wimbledon glory

IGA Swiatek believes her historic Wimbledon title is the perfect response to her critics.

- Eleanor CROOKS

The Pole crushed first-time grand slam finalist Amanda Anisimova 6-0, 6-0 in less than an hour on Centre Court, making it the most one-sided final for 114 years.

Not since 1911, when Dorothea Lambert Chambers beat Dora Boothby, had a Wimbledon title been decided by such a scoreline, while the only other instance at a grand slam came in the French Open in 1988 when Steffi Graf beat Natasha Zvereva.

Swiatek had slipped to eighth in the world rankings after a disappointing clay season by her extremely lofty standards, with the 24-year-old failing to win the French Open for the first time since 2021.

"We as public people and as athletes, we can't really react to everything what's going on," said Swiatek, who served a one-month doping ban at the end of last season after taking contaminated medication.

"We've 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've got to say, unfortunately, Polish media, how they treated me and my team, it wasn't really pleasant.