Andrea Petkovic is enraged at the criticism levied on World No. 1 Iga Swiatek in the wake of her dominant Roland Garros title win.
For the fourth time in five years, Swiatek was the last woman standing at the clay-court Grand Slam. She beat Jasmine Paolini handily in Saturday’s final to become the youngest woman in the Open Era to win on the Parisian clay on four occasions.
Aside from her great escape in the second round, in which she saved a match point against Naomi Osaka, the Pole was hardly troubled during the fortnight, dropping a combined 17 games from the third round stage until the final.
This prompted widespread criticism online among fans despite Swiatek being showered with praise by her fellow peers and pundits. Some tennis naysayers suggested that the 23-year-old’s title run was becoming monotonous and boring, which left the retired WTA star seething in her column on Substack.
Petkovic, who has previously called some of Swiatek’s matches from the television booth, termed the accusations and complaints “blatant misogyny” simply because her counterpart is an expert and a good one in her profession.
“A thing that has not only made me unhappy but straight-up furious is the blatant misogyny that Iga Swiatek is facing for BEING TOO GOOD AT HER JOB.”