Iga Swiatek still stunned by slight from Danielle Collins

Iga Swiatek is not without drama. Lots of players have complained about her tendency to hold up her racket to slow down play when she is returning serve. Normally, a returner must play at a server's pace. This is both tennis etiquette as well as good sportsmanship. Swiatek knows what she is doing, of course, and other players get peeved by that.

The issue is that Swiatek does not seem to own up to what she is doing even though it is obvious. She tends to be surprised when someone criticizes her about any issues. She is otherwise a good sport and classy in victory, but she needs to stop holding up play when it isn't her serve.

In her match against Danielle Collins at the Olympics, something (or some things) that Swiatek was doing miffed Collins. There appeared to be a backstory that was prevailing throughout the tension of the match, but that is likely tennis fans have not seen. Perhaps something happened in the locker room or maybe a comment Swiatek made had upset Collins.

Iga Swiatek still confused about Danielle Collins' Olympic comments

Collins has always been a bit feisty as well. She can be sarcastic toward the crowd at times. Still, her smile eases any long-term tension and she is self-aware enough to know when the better player has won the day.

Against Swiatek, Collins was forced to retire in the third set due to an illness. When the two met at the net, though, Collins told the Pole that she felt Swiatek was being "insincere" about Collins' illness. This seemed odd as the illness happened during the match and it was unclear what Swiatek might have done.

Collins told the press after the match, "I told Iga she didn't have to be insincere about, you know, my injury. There's a lot that happens on camera, and there are a lot of people with a ton of charisma and come out and are one way on camera and another way in the locker room."

In a recent interview with Polish website WP SportoweFaktovky, Swiatek said she is still unsure what Collins meant by her comments. Swiatek said, "To this day, I still don't understand where her comment came from...I decided there was no point in looking into it. I focused on myself. I'm a professional, and things like that don't affect how I play tennis later on."

One might wonder what will happen if the two players meet again. Swiatek still has a long career ahead of her. Collins has announced she is retiring at the end of the year.

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