"You must dislike Iga Swiatek to write such nonsense": Fans rebut Pam Shriver's controversial remark on Pole confronting rowdy French Open crowd in 2R

Former doubles World No. 1 Pam Shriver received criticism from fans over her remarks on Iga Swiatek's plea to the rowdy French Open crowd after her second-round match against Naomi Osaka on Wednesday, May 29. The World No. 1 saved a match point to register a 7-6(6), 1-6, 7-5 win over the Japanese.

Iga Swiatek and Naomi Osaka played one of the matches of the 2024 season so far and the crowd often went a little berserk during the rallies.This notably cost the Pole a point in the dying moments of the match as she shot a high volley long.

After the win, she decided to confront the audience at Roland Garros during her on-court interview and pleaded for silence in between the points. She said:

"I wanna say one thing, I’m sorry to even bring that, I’ve huge respect for you guys. I know that we’re playing basically for you because this is entertainment and we’re also earning money because of you. But sometimes, under a lot of pressure, when you scream something during the rally or right before the return, it’s really hard to be focused.

"I usually don’t bring this up but this is serious for us, we’re fighting our whole lives to be better because these things are big and there’s a lot of money here to win so losing a few points may change a lot so please guys if you can support us between the rallies but not during, that will be really amazing."

Iga Swiatek's comments invited criticism from former World No. 3 Pam Shriver as the latter took to X (formerly Twitter) to denounce the Pole's 'scolding'.

"Swiatek did not read the room well by scolding the crowd in her post match interview. Only crowd criticism should have been empty seats," Shriver wrote.

Shriver's rhetoric, however, didn't sit well with tennis fans, as they took to X to criticize her. One fan said that the American had to really dislike Swiatek to state something like that.

"Scolding? really? You must dislike Iga to write such a nonsense," a fan wrote.

Another fan defended the Pole by saying that she was "polite and apologetic" in her remarks.

"She didn't scold anyone. She was extremely polite and apologetic," wrote another.

Here are a few more fan reactions:

"I didn’t interpret it as scolding. She was so polite. It was just a request and I thought the crowd took it well. They responded with applause," a fan stated.

"Did not read the room well ? … I heard people cheering her comments," a fan claimed.

"Scolding? It was a plea to be respectful. Very different," a fan wrote.

"‘Scolding the crowd’ - Pam, she did nothing of the sort, let’s not start that narrative," a fan remarked.

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Iga Swiatek to face either Marie Bouzkova or Jana Fett in French Open 3R

Iga Swiatek in action. at the French Open. Getty.

After having downed Naomi Osaka in the second round of the 2024 French Open, Iga Swiatek will next take on whoever wins between Marie Bouzkova and Jana Fett.

That fixture has been suspended by rain, with Bouzkova currently leading 6-2, 1-0. Swiatek is yet to face the Czech but has played Fett before, beating her 6-3, 6-3 in the opening round of the 2022 Wimbledon Championships

The Pole's win tally in 2024 currently stands at 40-4. She has won four titles so far, all of them being WTA 1000s.