{"id":439602,"date":"2026-01-28T23:00:08","date_gmt":"2026-01-28T23:00:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/439602\/"},"modified":"2026-01-28T23:00:08","modified_gmt":"2026-01-28T23:00:08","slug":"iga-swiatek-criticizes-lack-of-privacy-at-australian-open","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/439602\/","title":{"rendered":"Iga Swiatek criticizes lack of privacy at Australian Open"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Article content<\/p>\n<p>The spotlight of playing on centre court shouldn\u2019t be following tennis stars behind the scenes, says World No. 2 Iga Swiatek.<\/p>\n<p>The Polish tennis superstar is the latest to join the chorus of criticism over how behind-the-scenes footage is being broadcast for all to see at the Australian Open.<\/p>\n<p>Article content<\/p>\n<p data-async=\"\">The calls for more player privacy were sparked by an incident involving Coco Gauff on Tuesday. After losing her quarterfinal match to Elina Svitolina in 59 minutes, <a data-evt-val=\"{\" control_fields=\"\" link=\"\" went=\"\" viral=\"\" after=\"\" her=\"\" post-match=\"\" meltdown=\"\" data-evt=\"click\" data-evt-typ=\"click\" href=\"https:\/\/torontosun.com\/sports\/tennis\/coco-gauff-smashes-racket-australian-open-meltdown\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Gauff went viral after her post-match meltdown<\/a> was caught on camera \u2013 unbeknownst to the American star.<\/p>\n<p>Article content<\/p>\n<p>Gauff later said that she was unhappy that there was no privacy anywhere except the locker room.<\/p>\n<p>What did Swiatek say?<\/p>\n<p>Swiatek echoed Gauff\u2019s frustration, comparing tennis players at the Aussie Open to animals in a zoo.<\/p>\n<p data-async=\"\">\u201cThe question is, are we tennis players or are we animals in the zoo, where they are observed even when they poop?\u201d Swiatek told reporters <a data-evt-val=\"{\" control_fields=\"\" link=\"\" her=\"\" quarterfinal=\"\" loss=\"\" to=\"\" elena=\"\" rybakina=\"\" on=\"\" wednesday=\"\" data-evt=\"click\" data-evt-typ=\"click\" href=\"https:\/\/ausopen.com\/match\/2026-elena-rybakina-vs-iga-swiatek-ws504\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">after her quarterfinal loss to Elena Rybakina on Wednesday<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOK, that was exaggerating obviously, but it would be nice to have some privacy. It would be nice also to have your own process and not always be observed.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Amanda Anisimova also said she felt players did not have much privacy at the tournament, saying that she \u201ckept my head down\u201d until she reached the locker room.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThere are good moments obviously that people see and that\u2019s fun. Then, when you lose, there are probably not-so-good moments,\u201d Anisimova said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe video of Coco that was posted, it\u2019s tough because she didn\u2019t have a say in that.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Constantly being filmed<\/p>\n<p>Jessica Pegula said that she feels that the off-court coverage is worse now than it has been in the past and players feel they are being constantly filmed.<\/p>\n<p>Article content<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI was, like, \u2018Can you just let the girls have like a moment to themselves?\u2019\u201d Pegula said. \u201cCoco wasn\u2019t wrong when she said the only (safe) place is the locker room, which is crazy. You\u2019re just going about your day.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI saw online people were zooming in on players\u2019 phones and stuff like that. That\u2019s so unnecessary, I just think it\u2019s really an invasion of privacy.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe\u2019re on the court on TV. You come inside, you\u2019re on TV. Literally, the only time you\u2019re not being recorded is when you are going to shower and go to the bathroom.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Read More<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/torontosun.com\/sports\/tennis\/coco-gauff-smashes-racket-australian-open-meltdown\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"> <img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Coco Gauff of the U.S. reacts during her quarterfinal match against Elina Svitolina of Ukraine during their quarterfinal match at the Australian Open  in Melbourne, Australia, Tuesday. (AP Photo\/Dita Alangkara)\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/GauffOnline-e1769537620399.jpg\"  class=\"lazyload\" height=\"96\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"96\"\/> <\/p>\n<p>Coco Gauff smashes racket in Australian Open meltdown<\/p>\n<p> <\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/torontosun.com\/sports\/tennis\/yulia-putintseva-mocks-australian-open-crowd-zeynep-sonmez\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"> <img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Yulia Putintseva of Kazakhstan gestures to the crowd after defeating Zeynep Sonmez at the Australian Open.\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/0124-yulia-putintseva-aussie-open.jpg\"  class=\"lazyload\" height=\"96\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"96\"\/> <\/p>\n<p>Yulia Putintseva mocks Australian Open crowd after beating fan favourite Zeynep Sonmez<\/p>\n<p> <\/a>Does this happen at other tournaments?<\/p>\n<p>Swiatek noted that this situation seems to be unique to the Australian Open, sharing that other Grand Slams like the French Open and Wimbledon provide sanctuary areas which are off-limits to cameras and fans.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThere are some spaces that you can at least go when you need to. But there are some tournaments where it\u2019s impossible and you are constantly observed, if not by the fans \u2026 then by the cameras,\u201d said Swiatek, who went viral earlier in the tournament for being held up by security after forgetting her accreditation.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cFor sure, it\u2019s not simple. I don\u2019t think it should be like that because we\u2019re tennis players. We\u2019re meant to be watched on the court and in the press.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s not our job (to) be a meme when you forget your accreditation. Oh, it\u2019s funny, for sure. People have something to talk about, but for us I don\u2019t think it\u2019s necessary.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Swiatek had some bold words when asked if she has approached tournament\u2019s organizers about the situation, saying: \u201cWhat\u2019s the point?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Share this article in your social network<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Article content The spotlight of playing on centre court shouldn\u2019t be following tennis stars behind the scenes, says&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":439603,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[442],"tags":[49,48,82,593],"class_list":["post-439602","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tennis","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-sports","tag-tennis"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/439602","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=439602"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/439602\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/439603"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=439602"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=439602"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=439602"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}