Iga Swiatek admits she ‘doesn’t feel safe’ as ‘hate’ flows in her direction

The Pole, gunning for a second title at Flushing Meadows, dropped just one game as she dispatched Ena Shibahara 6-0 6-1 in 65 minutes.

Only three players (Margaret Court – 11, Maria Sharapova – 8, Evonne Goolagong – 8) have registered more sets of 6-0 score line from their first 22 matches in women’s singles at US Open than Swiatek (7) during the Open Era, with her status a favourite to win a second title in New York strengthened by her dominant win against Shibahara.

Yet it was her comments in her post-match press conference that may have been her most significant contribution to the game, as she spoke about the impact online abuse can have on her.

Swiatek insisted she doesn’t follow all the abusive messages flowing her way on social media, but the level of venom coming her way does occasionally get through.

“I’m only kind of seeing the messages from my close ones, the ones that I already accepted, but for sure there is a lot of hate,” she said, suggesting her social media feeds are restricted to messages from approved followers.

“It would be nice if we can try to educate people and also maybe in the future have some solutions as, you know, using Al to make it safer for us.

“Because I feel like we can’t be on the internet and feel like kind of safe anymore. You have to really be careful about what you’re reading and who you’re following.