Anastasia Potapova hits back at Iga Swiatek over Spartak jersey row

Russian tennis player Anastasia Potapova has responded to comments about her made by Poland's Iga Swiatek. The latter had questioned why Potapova was allowed to wear a Spartak Moscow T-shirt during her match against American Jessica Pegula at the Indian Wells tournament.

Potapova had earlier claimed she is a big fan of the Spartak Moscow football team. Responding to Swiatek's comments, she said:

"Every person has the right to choose: so to go to the match in a Spartak T-shirt was my personal choice. She condemned me, but I don't care about her complaints, neither hot nor cold. If she wants to blame me for something, then I wish her good luck. I don't pay any attention to it."

For the uninitiated, Iga Swiatek had stated that Anastasia Potapova should not have displayed her loyalties at such moments, even if she was a fan of the team.

"I talked to the WTA, and in a sense I was told that there will probably be fewer situations like this because they will explain to the players that you can't advertise any Russian team right now. It calmed me down a bit," Swiatek said.

The exchange of words has once again brought to the fore the ongoing political tensions between Russia and Poland, which have affected sporting events and players. But Potapova is seemingly unfazed by all the talk, and plans to continue representing herself and her country.

"When I started speaking in front of the cameras, I realized that I was good" - Iga Swiatek

Polish tennis player Iga Swiatek, who won the French Open in 2020, recently spoke about the challenges of fame and trust in an interview with famous ski athlete Mikaela Shiffrin. In particular, Swiatek discussed the effects of her popularity on her personal life.

"When I started speaking in front of the cameras, I realized that I was good," she said. "On the one hand, this thing helped me; on the other hand, it made me more famous. It's hard to trust people in this situation."

Swiatek went on to talk about the difficulties of connecting with others in her home country of Poland. She thinks people treat her differently because of her fame, which is something she tries to warn others about.

"People in Poland are very nice, but it's hard to talk to a person and let them really know who I am. Sometimes they treat me differently, which is one which I warn," Swiatek added.

Despite the challenges, Iga Swiatek remains focused on her tennis career. She has already achieved great success at a young age, as evident in her haul of three Grand Slam titles.