Iga Swiatek’s campaign at the 2026 Wuhan Open ended in tears as she struggled to compete against Maja Chwalinska in their blockbuster all-Polish semifinal. After Swiatek’s exchange with her physiotherapist and fitness coach, Maciej Ryszczuk, drew attention during the match, Ryszczuk issued a clarification that elicited strong reactions from tennis fans.
Swiatek made a strong start to the contest by taking a 5-3 lead in the first set, but Chwalinska fought back strongly to secure two crucial breaks of serve and established a 6-5 lead. The six-time Grand Slam champion then called for a medical timeout and received treatment on her left leg.
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Swiatek’s movement was visibly hampered after she returned to the court, leading her to break down in tears while having a discussion with her physiotherapist about whether to continue playing after losing the first set.
The exchange prompted one fan to complain about Ryszczuk seemingly “pushing” Swiatek to play despite her injury. In response, Ryszczuk clarified that he had repeatedly urged the 25-year-old to retire from the match, but she insisted on continuing.
“Please stop talking nonsense, I told her three times to stop the match because it’s bad for her health. She made the decision herself to continue playing, and since she made that one, I support her as much as I can,” Ryszczuk commented on X.
However, the clarification rubbed some fans the wrong way, with one of them accusing Ryszczuk of being “disrespectful” by sharing the details of their conversation.
“Maciej is wonderful with Iga and an excellent physiotherapist, but commenting publicly while she’s playing, clearly injured, and saying that she’s insisting on playing is completely disrespectful. That’s something that should stay between them. It’s not okay,” one fan commented.
“Seriously you have nothing better to do?” another fan said.
Others, meanwhile, criticized Ryszczuk for jumping on social media to defend himself while Swiatek was still in action on the court.
“Your client was still struggling on court, but you’re scrolling on your phone like a teenager could not stay away from social media??? She treats you like a friend and family, and your reputation is so important huh?🤮🤮,” a fan wrote.
“This is what he was doing on phone while Iga was playing. 🤣🤣🤣🤣😭,” another fan chimed in.
“His primary concern while Iga is struggling on court is to come online to defend himself,” said another.
Maja Chwalinska ultimately emerged victorious in her showdown with Iga Swiatek, securing a 7-5, 6-1 win to advance to the Wuhan Open final. Despite dealing with an injury and suffering a loss, Swiatek shared a lighthearted exchange with her compatriot at the net and joked about her chances of qualifying for the WTA Finals.
Iga Swiatek explains why she chose not to retire against Maja Chwalinska at the Wuhan Open
During her post-match press conference, Iga Swiatek revealed that the pain in her quad had troubled her since the start of her Wuhan Open campaign, even leading her to consider pulling out of the WTA 1000 event after her opening match.
“From the beginning of the tournament, I kind of felt pain in my quad. I’ve been able to manage that day by day and we were already thinking of withdrawing after I played with Magda in the first round but I was quite able to play normal, so I wanted to push, and we knew that it’s nothing like that it’s gonna get worse or something, so in that case, you just need to block it out,” Iga Swiatek said.
Although the pain worsened significantly during her semifinal clash, Swiatek explained that she chose not to retire because she wanted Maja Chwalinska to win on merit.
“But today was just too much, and that’s unfortunate because I felt like we’re playing great tennis and wanted to continue. Later on, I knew it’s going to be tough to win, but I didn’t want to honestly retire because I wanted Maja to win it normally,” she added.
As Iga Swiatek continues her quest to qualify for the WTA Finals, she is set to compete at the Ningbo Open next. The WTA 500 event is scheduled to begin on October 19.
Edited by Urvi Mehra
