2024 Olympics: Tennis' Danielle Collins Has Tense Interaction With Iga Swiatek After Retiring From Match
Danielle Collins found fault with opponent Iga Swiatek's attitude during their match at the 2024 Paris Olympics.
During her quarterfinal match against the Polish athlete, the Team USA Olympian could be seen sharing some tense words with her opponent after she pulled out of the match during the third set due to injury.
"I told Iga she didn't have to be insincere about my injury," Collins told reporters after the match, per People. "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."
As the 30-year-old—who plans to retire from the sport after this season to end her career on a positive note—explained, she just didn't have "the best experience" and didn't appreciate the insincerity.
"They can be the way that they are," she continued. "I can accept that, and I don't need the fakeness."
As for what she told Swiatek after the game, Collins kept mum, telling reporters that she'd "rather not get into these because that's her last year on Tour," and that it's "better to ask her."
And the duo's match wasn't just tense off the court, as during the competition a strong backhand from Collins hit Swiatek in the stomach, causing the 23-year-old—who is currently the top-seeded woman at the Olympic Games—to clutch her midsection and fall to the floor before quickly recovering.
"I couldn't breathe for some time," Swiatek explained to reporters about the hit. "I guess with the adrenaline that you have on court, you don't feel these kind of things too hard. So I could get back in the game really quickly."
As for Collins, her decision to end the game was due to injury in her abdominal muscles, saying that the heat in Paris has "been brutal."
"When you have full-body cramps from your toes to your neck and you suffer a heat stroke," she said, "it's very, very difficult to come out here."
But Collins and Swiatek weren't the only tennis stars who experienced a tense exchange following their set as Team USA's Emma Navarro had a heated conversation with China's Zheng Qwinwen during their post-game handshake at the women's tennis singles quarter-finals July 30.
"I just told her I didn't respect her as a competitor," Navarro told reporters during a press conference. "I think she goes about things in a pretty cut-throat way. It makes for a locker room that doesn't have a lot of camaraderie, so it's tough to face an opponent like that, who I really don't respect."
But Qwinwen brushed off the comment, saying she was "glad" Navarro was honest with her and adding, "I will not consider it an attack because she lost the match."
For more emotional moments from the 2024 Olympics, keep reading.
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Watch the 2024 Paris Olympics daily on NBC and Peacock until the summer games end with the Closing Ceremony on Sunday, Aug. 11, at 7 p.m. ET/PT.