"People want attention... willing to do anything" - Iga Swiatek recalls Monica Seles' stabbing, remarks on protestors disrupting play at Italian Open

Iga Swiatek recently recalled Monica Seles' stabbing incident while commenting on the disruption caused by protestors at the 2024 Italian Open. Seles' stabbing took place in 1993 when she was ranked the World No. 1. She returned to tennis in 1995 but did not have the kind of dominance she had in her heyday.

Climate activists caused disturbances during a few matches the Italian Open in Rome. This included protestors throwing confetti on court during the fourth-round match between Madison Keys and Sorana Cirstea and play being disrupted during the doubles match betwwen Santiago Gonzalez and Edouard Roger-Vasselin and Marcelo Arevalo and Mate Pavic.

Swiatek, who reached the semifinals in Rome after a 6-1, 6-3 win over Madison Keys, was asked about the protests in her post-match press conference. The Pole responded by saying that the best way to tackle these kind of situations was to "increase security."

"Well, obviously probably the best way is to increase security. I'm not really sure how the security works because I've never had any situation where they had to kind of react when I was on court," Iga Swiatek said.

The Pole also stated that the protestors wanted to seek attention.

"I didn't see the protest yesterday. I heard that there's something going on. I didn't see it. I don't know if they were actually close to players or not. Well, there aren't many thoughts. People want attention and they're willing to do anything to get it. That's how our world works right now," she added.

Reflecting on the protests, Swiatek recalled the stabbing of Monica Seles in 1993 by an obsessed fan of the latter's rival, Steffi Graf.

The Pole expressed that she hopes that the WTA will increase their security protocols and will be prepared to handle any disruptions caused by individuals running onto the court.

"For sure, well, when I kind of saw what happened to Monica Seles, I for sure had a couple of weeks where I thought about it sometimes. The only thing you need to do is to trust that, if the situation happens, WTA will be ready with their security to react. That's all," she said.

Iga Swiatek will face Coco Gauff in the semifinals of Italian Open 2024

Iga Swiatek and Coco Gauff at the 2023 China Open

Iga Swiatek will go up against Coco Gauff in the semifinals of the 2024 Italian Open.

The third-seeded American booked her place in the last four of the WTA 1000 event with a 7-6(4), 6-1 win over seventh seed Zheng Qinwen. This was the second time she reached the semifinals in Rome.

Iga Swiatek and Coco Gauff have faced each other 10 times on the WTA Tour previously, with the World No. 1 winning coming out on top on nine occasions. Their most recent meeting was at the round robin of the 2023 WTA Finals, where Swiatek won 6-0, 7-5.

Swiatek will reach her third final in Rome if she comes out on top while Gauff will make it to her first WTA 1000 title clash on clay if she secures the win.