Jimmy Arias has weird views on Iga Swiatek and Nick Kyrgios

Check out the header picture for this article. It is of Iga Swiatek celebrating something and she has her hat on. But oddly, former top-five ATP player and ESPN tennis commentator Jimmy Arias really doesn’t like how Iga Swiatek wears her hat.

But Jimmy Arias, a guy who knows a lot about tennis, sure, but has some really strange views, doesn’t just top hating on Swiatek about her hat. He says of the current top-ranked player on the WTA, “I don’t think she’s been great for women’s tennis.”

Arias also said on the Tennis Channel’s Inside In podcast, “So you don’t get a connection as much as you could. I don’t mind her getting angry in some ways, because I want to see her personality.”

Jimmy Arias has some odd views on Iga Swiatek and Nick Kyrgios

There’s a bit to unpack here. First of all, all players get frustrated on the court and many have outbursts of emotion (maybe not Casper Ruud who seems to be a robot at times, but he does so by design). When most think of Iga Swiatek, it is very unlikely their first thought is, “She’s so angry.”

Also, how can Jimmy Arias notice Swiatek’s “anger” but then says he doesn’t see her “personality” because of the way she wears her hat? Add to that the way tennis is packaged today compared to the 1970s and 1980s when players were a bit more open to showing emotion on the court until the Code of Conduct was created which squelched many of the moments we might see a player’s “personality” on the court. Arias’ views about Swiatek’s hat (which are simply weird) and her not showing her personality seems quite antiquated.

Plus, Swiatek might know a thing or four about winning at a high level of tennis that Jimmy Arias does. Is Arias a better player than I could ever be? Sure. But he wasn’t talking about me. Instead, he was criticizing Swiatek who is a four-time Grand Slam champion at just 22 years old. Arias never won a major.

Arias also criticized Nick Kyrgios on the Tennis Channel. His point was that Kyrgios complains about the scheduling of tournaments but that Kyrgios doesn’t train hard and hasn’t played much in 2023. Those two points are likely even something Kyrgios couldn’t argue with. Kyrgios has also been injured this year, though, and this is why he hasn’t played, not because he didn’t want to play.

Per Arias, “I’m not sure [his] wrist, knee [or] his tattoo is hurting him too much [from playing] Pokemon maybe.” That’s some low-hanging fruit, Mr. Arias. Plus, that seems like Jimmy Arias is just trying to get his own name in the news instead of a real critique of Nick Kyrgios.

Of course, Kyrgios took to Twitter (or X or whatever it is currently called) to respond to Arias. And to be fair, Kyrgios isn’t overly wrong in his retort.