Iga Swiatek addresses ball kid incident and her emotional change

After the most tumultuous year of her career, Iga Swiatek has played at a strong level in 2025. Currently, Swiatek is the WTA World No. 2 with a record of 18-5.

However, Swiatek has not won a title since the 2024 French Open, and she has grown noticeably more frustrated on the court.

The situation came to a head at Indian Wells this past weekend when Swiatek nearly hit the ball kid by smashing a ball out of anger. She lost the semifinal match to Mirra Andreeva and failed to repeat as champion at Indian Wells.

Swiatek addressed the on-court incident and the change in her demeanor in recent months with a lengthy statement on Instagram today.

Swiatek prefaced her comments by saying, "Although I'm not comfortable explaining myself, it's time I share my perspective to stop the speculation and baseless theories."

"First, about the incident during my last match. It's true - I expressed frustration in a way I'm not proud of. My intention was never to aim the ball at anyone but merely to release my frustration by bouncing it on the ground.

I immediately apologized to the ball boy, we made eye contact, and nodded to each other when I expressed regret that it happened near him. I've seen many players bounce balls in frustration, and frankly, I didn't expect such harsh judgments. Usually, I could control such impulses, so half-jokingly I can say I'll lack experience in this and misjudged my aim in the heat of the moment."

In her second point, Swiatek discussed her emotional expression. She said the second half of last year was extremely challenging but led to her playing well at the Australian Open, as she had no expectations.

However, she said while playing in the Middle East, "it struck her" that her positive test result case would keep her from reaching the World No. 1 spot this year. She said, "This realization deeply upset me. You could see this on the court in Dubai."

After offering her side of the story, Swiatek said she would continue working on herself before taking a swipe at critics.

"When I'm highly focused and don't show many emotions on the court, I'm called a robot, my attitude labeled as inhuman. Now that I'm more expressive, showing feelings or struggling internally, I'm suddenly labeled immature or hysterical.

That's not a healthy standard - especially considering that just 6 months ago, I felt my career was hanging by a thread, spent three weeks crying daily, and didn't want to step on the court.

Today, after everything I've been through, I'm still processing and coming to terms with those experiences. Will sharing this change anything? Probably not, because I clearly see how much we love judging, creating theories, and imposing opinions on others.

But perhaps a few people who genuinely want to understand what I'm experiencing will understand this. In any case, this external standard is definitely not my standard, and I don't accept my team and me being boxed into external expectations."

Swiatek is now preparing for the Miami Open this week. Tennis fans can follow Sports Illustrated's Serve on SI for all the most important news from the sport.

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