Quote of the Day: Iga Swiatek inconsolable after Olympics semifinal defeat: "I just blew it"

Iga Swiatek was inconsolable after her stunning upset at the hands of Zheng Qinwen, as the heavy favorite to win the gold medal at the 2024 Paris Olympic Games went out in straight sets on Thursday.

The world No. 1 had returned to Paris as the reigning champion at Roland Garros, the Olympic tennis venue where she’s won four of her five Grand Slams titles. With a 25-match winning streak on these courts dating back to 2022, the 23-year-old had been totally locked in having skipped the Opening Ceremony for extra rest and preparation.

Read More: Zheng Qinwen shocks Iga Swiatek, surges into Olympic Gold Medal Match in Paris

But one off-day, and one dialied-in opponent, and the top seed’s Olympic dream came crashing down. After racing through the first set, Zheng rallied from a 0-4 deficit in the second and won six of the last seven games to close out the match, 6-2, 7-5.

Afterward, Swiatek told press that her opponent had quickly zeroed in on her biggest weakness and exploited it throughout their nearly two-hour battle.

“I just had a hole in my backhand. It happens rarely because it is usually my most solid shot,” Swiatek explained. "I was not technically well positioned because I was so tense and the fact that I played back-to-back matches. We didn’t have time to adjust that and work on that.

"I know that’s not any justification… I tried to correct that during the match and today it didn’t work at all. So, she used that very well to win the match."

Not even the prospect of the bronze medal match around the corner was enough to lift her spirits, as an emotional Swiatek was seen stepping away mid-interview and breaking down in tears as she reflected on her defeat in the mixed zone.

Q. There was a moment of the match where we thought you might still come back, you had a 4-0 lead... She came back to her high level and you just couldn't hold your level from the beginning of the set—is that what happened?

IGA SWIATEK: The way this match went, that's exactly what happened.

Well… basically I just blew it. (Crying)

With the next two Olympic Games in 2028 Los Angeles and 2032 Brisbane likely to see tennis return to hard courts, the 2022 US Open champion will surely get her chance for redemption in the future. But a rare clay-court Games—the first since 1992 Barcelona—had been singled out as a golden opportunity for Swiatek, by far the current generation’s best WTA player on the surface.

The mission was a personal one for Swiatek too, as her father Tomasz was also an Olympian at the 1988 Seoul Games. A former rower in men’s quadruple sculls, his own team had also lost at the semifinal stage and failed to make the final.

Read More: Queenwen 2.0? "More accepting" Zheng Qinwen ready for Paris Olympics spotlight

But for Zheng, the No. 6 seed is carrying the joy of almost a billion-and-half people, as she made history becoming the first player from China—male or female—to reach the final at the Olympic Games.

She will face Croatia’s Donna Vekic, who also became the first player from her country to reach an Olympic final in singles. No. 13 seed Vekic defeated Anna-Karolina Schmiedlova 6-4, 6-0 in 67 minutes on Court Philippe Chatrier on Thursday.