(Video) Iga Swiatek Denied Entry at the Australian Open After Not Having Accreditation on her

Iga Swiatek faced one of the strictest rules at the Australian Open after a camera caught her being denied entry to a building because she did not have her ID on Monday (January 26). The incident happened just hours before her fourth-round match at the tournament against Maddison Inglis.

Without an iota of doubt, Swiatek is a well-known figure in Grand Slam tournaments, having won it six times in her career. She also reached the semi-finals of the Australian Open in 2019 and 2025, and she’s chasing her seventh crown in Melbourne, which will complete her career Grand Slam.

But the security personnel didn’t seem to care who she was or how many Slam titles she had won as they prevented her from entering a building. She was spotted in the lobby of Melbourne Park, dressed in practice gear, entering a building before security personnel asked for her ID.

The World No.2 was not with her ID and had to phone one of her team members to help her get one. During that period, she waited patiently for nearly two minutes, standing pensively with her phone as she couldn’t get into the building. After that, one of her team members arrived with her ID, which she showed to the security before running down the lobby.

Even the biggest stars have to wait as Iga Swiatek stops to collect her accreditation before she can enter 😅 pic.twitter.com/RoQTu4eMXu

— TNT Sports (@tntsports) January 26, 2026

Swiatek’s accreditation issues have brought back memories of Roger Federer’s situation in 2019. Back then, the Swiss legend faced the same situation and also did so at the All England Club in Wimbledon. Despite being a legend of the game, he has to wait until a member of his team arrives with his ID.

However, Swiatek is seeking to win the Australian Open for the first time. She has only dropped one set at the tournament, and that came against Anna Kalinskaya in the third round. The Polish star won the first set easily but could only win just one game in the second set, with Kalinskaya playing at a top level.

But in the third set, Swiatek regrouped and crushed her opponent 6-1, 1-6, 6-1 to reach the fourth round of the Australian Open. In the round of 16, she faced Australian qualifier Maddison Inglis, who had stunned Laura Siegemund in the second round before Naomi Osaka withdrew from their third-round match. Swiatek beat Inglis 6-0, 6-3.

Iga Swiatek looks forward to a tough match-up against Elena Rybakina at the Australian Open

Iga Swiatek is set to take on a familiar foe, Elena Rybakina, in the quarter-finals of the Australian Open. She has met the World No.5 on eleven occasions on tour, winning six of them and losing five. Their last meeting was at the WTA Finals in November, where Rybakina came from a set down to beat the World No.2.

However, before that win, Swiatek had defeated Rybakina at the French Open and Cincinnati Open last year. Ahead of their meeting in the last eight of the Australian Open, Swiatek revealed that her current head-to-head lead against the Kazakhstan star does not really matter as it will be a tough meeting between them:

Well, I wouldn’t say head-to-head matters, you know, because even when one of us was winning, it was always like, I don’t know, a tight match — or she beat me easy. It doesn’t make sense to overanalyse who won the last ones or how it has been looking, you know. Every match is a different story and, like, in every match she has been a tough opponent.

Rybakina is seeking to reach her first Grand Slam semi-finals since the 2024 Wimbledon Championship. The World No.5 has lost just one match since the Ningbo Open in October. She has been in unprecedented form, helping her win the WTA Finals in Riyadh.

Also Read: Jannik Sinner Refuses to Look Ahead to a Potential Novak Djokovic Clash at the Australian Open

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