Bronze medalist Iga Swiatek admits she will have “a bit more humility” after her tearful semifinal defeat to Zheng Qinwen

WTA World No. 1 Iga Swiatek has vowed to work harder after claiming the singles bronze medal at the 2024 Paris Olympics.

Bronze medalist Iga Swiatek admits she will have “a bit more humility” after her tearful semifinal defeat to Zheng Qinwen

Iga Swiatek (Via Imago)

Iga Swiatek has revealed that she will be a bit more humble after winning the bronze medal in the singles at the 2024 Paris Olympics. The World No. 1 was the overwhelming favorite to win the gold. However, she was denied by the brilliant China’s Zheng Qinwen in the semifinals.

Swiatek had never lost at the Roland Garros courts since 2021, a place where she had always produced her best tennis. She had beaten Jasmine Paolini in a straight sets to claim the French Open in June. At the Paris Olympics, she began in her usual scintillating style of play beating Irina-Camelia Bagu, Diane Parry, and Wang Xinyu.

While she failed to produce the same brilliance against Danielle Collins, she somehow managed to win after the American retired in the end. Against Qinwen, she was far from her best as the Chinese sixth seed defeated her 6-2, 7-5. She was left in tears after the shocking defeat but bounced back in 24 hours to claim the bronze medal against Slovakia’s Anna Karolina Schmiedlova in the third-place match.

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Despite ending the Summer Games on a positive note, the Polish star admitted that she will be a bit more humble going forward.

If I hadn’t played today (Friday, for bronze), I might have cried for a week. so I needed to get it together. I probably cried for like six hours yesterday so, it was really tough. It’s like my heart has been broken. (…) I think this will give me a bit more humility.

Iga Swiatek said in her press conference

The Pole has won four titles this season, including the French Open. She was among the favorites to claim her second Grand Slam at Wimbledon but only reached the third round before losing to Yulia Putintseva.

Iga Swiatek aiming to work harder after claiming singles bronze at the Paris Olympics

Iga Swiatek has admitted she will work harder after claiming bronze at the Paris Olympics. The 23-year-old has yet to overcome the shocking defeat against China’s Zheng Qinwen on Thursday (August 1).

Iga Swiatek (3)
Iga Swiatek (Image via Imago)

She has been impressive so far this season, despite not advancing to the later stages at both the Australian Open and Wimbledon. She will now turn her attention to the summer hard court season.

I’m happy anyway that I pushed through that and I’m here with a bronze medal. I was maybe a little bit too arrogant with myself because I thought that I handled so much pressure before that I think I’m going to handle this one as well. And now I actually am really motivated to work even harder.

Iga Swiatek said (via Tennis365)

The Pole has withdrawn from the Canadian Open, which gets underway next week. She will be looking forward to competing at the Cincinnati Open and then the US Open.

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