"Hope they're not mad at me" - Iga Swiatek on her speech requesting silence from French Open crowd getting "accepted" amid "calmer" 4R match

Iga Swiatek played her fourth-round match at the 2024 French Open on Sunday, June 2, in front of a crowd "calmer" than the one she experienced in the second round. Notably, after her second-round match against Naomi Osaka on Wednesday, she had requested the crowd to not cause noise during the rallies.

Swiatek found herself in deep waters against Osaka, who stood only one point away from ending her title defense. She, however, survived the battle with a scoreline of 7-6(1), 1-6, 7-5 nearly three hours after the match began.

The Pole's performance in the fourth round bore stark contrasts to the one in the second as she hammered Anastasia Potapova with double bagels on Sunday. It took the World No. 1 only 40 minutes to beat Potapova 6-0, 6-0 and advance to the quarterfinals.

In the press conference that followed, Swiatek reckoned the spectators watching her play against Potapova were more confident about her victory unlike the ones watching her struggle against Osaka.

"I think the crowd was calmer also because I didn’t play such a high-intensity match as against Naomi because obviously that was like a popcorn kinda match and everybody was really excited and pumped up for it. In this next one, I felt like I had everything under control so I think the crowd felt that," the 23-year-old said.

She further expressed delight at the Parisians obliging to the request she made in her on-court interview on Wednesday.

"Yeah, people are listening, they are respectful so I felt a difference but I don’t know what’s the reason. I hope they kinda accepted my little speech after the match and they are not mad at me," Iga Swiatek added.

---

Iga Swiatek to square off with Marketa Vondrousova in French Open QF

Iga Swiatek hits a forehand at the 2024 French Open.

Iga Swiatek is set to square off against Marketa Vondrousova from the Czech Republic in the quarterfinals of the 2024 French Open women's singles draw. She will step on Philippe Chatrier to face Vondrousova on Tuesday, June 4.

Swiatek will look to maintain her clean sheet against Vondrousova on Tuesday as she holds a 3-0 lead over the Czech in their head-to-head tally. It will be their second meeting at Roland Garros as their first-ever duel was played in the first round of the 2020 French Open.

Iga Swiatek, unseeded, won that match 6-1, 6-2 against the then 15th seed Vondrousova. The two didn't play each other for three years until the 2023 Cincinnati Masters, where the Pole won 7-6(3), 6-1 in the quarterfinals. They clashed again a few months later in the round-robin stages of the WTA Finals with Swiatek coming through 7-6(3), 6-0.