"There was a lot of hatred": Poles forced the world's first racket to remove Ukrainian symbols
The world's best tennis player, Polish Iga Świątek, has admitted that she no longer wears a brooch in the colors of the Ukrainian flag because of criticism from her compatriots. Since the beginning of the full-scale invasion, the 22-year-old Warsaw native has regularly appeared on the court with Ukrainian symbols on her cap.
According to the world number one, the brooch helped her a lot at first when she wanted to show that she was consistent in remembering Ukrainians and what was happening around them as "the memory of society is quite short."
"But lately, there has been a lot of hatred and a lot of comments condemning me. People have even told me that I am not Polish. I think it started to cause more negative emotions than positive ones, and we decided that it was not the best idea now," sport.se.pl quoted Świątek as saying.
Świątek no longer has Ukrainian symbols on her costume
At the same time, the tennis player noted that she still intends to support Ukraine.
"And given what has already happened, wearing the brooch and playing a charity match in Krakow, I hope that I have encouraged Poles to help [Ukraine]. As a nation, we really came together and did a lot," Iga added.
Iga Świątek
Iga Świątek (on the left) with Elina Svitolina at a charity match in Krakow
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Iga Schwentek
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