Iga Swiatek terminates sponsorship deal with Chinese giant Xiaomi over ‘Dubious’ operations in Russia revealed
Iga Swiatek will no longer endorse Xiaomi smartphones.
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Iga Swiatek (Image Credit: Planet Sport)
Iga Swiatek has decided to end her sponsorship deal with Chinese mobile phone manufacturer Xiaomi. It has been reported that this partnership will end on March 31, 2023. The Polish player became the brand ambassador of the Chinese company in February 2021.
The current World No.1 is the first choice of many companies. Many companies had joined hands with her. Her sponsors include PZU Group, Rolex, Tecnifibre, Asics, etc. but it was her partnership with Xiaomi which made her a household name in Poland and across the world.
The reasons for this decision are not clear. However, it is suspected that the grounds for parting ways may be in the wake of the Ukraine-Russia war. Iga Swiatek since the beginning of this war, has opposed it and supports Ukraine. She even wears a cap which is decorated with blue and yellow (national colors of Ukraine) ribbon on the court.
After Samsung and Apple decided to move out of the Russian market as and when Russia declared war on Ukraine, Xiaomi increased its market share in the country and now has a market share of 40% in Russian mobile phone market. It did curtailed some of its activities in Russia but now has resumed its activities. There are media reports that this decision may have led Iga Swiatek to take this decision.
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Iga Swiatek is under pressure coming into Indian Wells Open
The Polish player is in great form this season. Continuing her dominant run of the 2022 season, she has won the WTA Qatar Open and reached the final of the Dubai Tennis Championships where she lost to Barbora Krejcikova. However, she thinks that this may not be enough for her.
Iga Swiatek is the defending champion at Indian Wells Open. But coming into this tournament this year she is feeling the heat and weight of expectations on her shoulders. In a recent interview before the start of the tournament, she talked about it.
“After Doha and Dubai, I felt it [the expectation] pretty strongly. Because I won a WTA 500 and was in the final of a 1000 – it was like a small streak of matches that were pretty solid and I was really composed. But, still, I lost in the final and people were, I don’t know, surprised, not happy with the performance, just critical,” she said.
“And it made me think that last year before this huge streak and before winning all these tournaments I would be so happy with this result. But with all these comments right now, I felt like, ‘oh, that’s not enough’. I feel like there’s a target on my back a little bit, which I didn’t feel last year,” she continued.
Iga Swiatek will start her journey in this tournament by playing against Claire Liu in the first-round of the tournament.
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Abhar Indorkar
(451 Articles Published)