Hantuchová on Świątek: dirty laundry and hot chicken in a blackout

Former Slovak tennis player Hantuchová has sharply criticised the behaviour of Poland's world number one Iga Świątek and her mental coach Daria Abramowicz. According to Hantuchová, at last year's tournament in Madrid, where she was in charge of player relations with the media, both acted as if the world revolved around them.

The first incident involved the massive power outage on the Iberian Peninsula, which also hit the Madrid tournament. “It was a serious situation, total Armageddon. But the players think the whole world revolves around them. Iga Świątek's mental coach asked for a hot chicken by eleven o'clock. They probably expected me to start a fire by rubbing two stones together,” Hantuchová said irritably on the Kanar+ podcast on Canal+ Sport.

The second incident happened even before the blackout. Świątek personally brought her dirty laundry and asked what to do with it. “I can't imagine doing something like that to someone from the previous generation,” Hantuchová recalled.

She says it is not just Świątek: many players behave similarly. “I miss respect and gratitude from them toward those who built all this,” she explained.

Hantuchová also believes elite players do too little to improve the situation in women's tennis, which is struggling with serious financial problems. “They think they don't have to do anything for tennis, yet they keep demanding higher prize money,” she said.

One example is players refusing to give interviews. “In Madrid I couldn't persuade a single player from the top five to spend ten minutes on an activity with the main sponsor. When I asked Carlos Alcaraz or Jannik Sinner, they agreed immediately. Former WTA chief Steve Simon gave the players so much freedom that now they do whatever they want,” Hantuchová concluded.

Around Prague, based on reporting by sport.cz