On Wednesday, Iga Świątek (2. As after every defeat, a huge criticism of public opinion fell on our tennis player. The criticism is all the greater, because our tennis player has not won the tournament this year and the game is certainly below her abilities.
However, not only the iga of Christmas, but also other leading tennis representatives affect worse moments. As Sport.pl, we asked journalists from several countries, as in our homeland the failures of their best tennis players are perceived. The point is not to comfort yourself in the case of Christmas that “others have hard too”, but show a wider context that accompanies tennis games.
Understanding for Alcaraz
Carlos Alcraz is currently the third in the world, Last year Roland Garros and Wimbledon won, but from autumn he has a decrease in form. In October, he dropped out after the second match from the ATP 1000 indoor tournament in Paris, then he did not leave the group at ATP Finals, he reached the quarter -finals of the Australian Open, won the ATP 500 tournament in Rotterdam, lost in the quarter -finals of the ATP 500 in Dosze, in the semi -final of the ATP 1000 in Indian Wells and in the second round of ATP 1000 in Miami.
– Despite winning in the Netherlands, its results are without revelation. He did not defend the title in California, now he lost in the first match in Florida. On the other hand, Spanish media and experts are usually quite balanced when they comment on the ups and downs of Alcaraz – Nico Moreno Ghersi from the “Grand Slam” tennis magazine tells us.
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The Spanish journalist explains that 21-year-old Alcaraz, despite the huge talent, is still at the beginning of their career and his compatriots are trying to remember that all the time. Our interlocutor also directly refers to the situation around Iga Świątek.
– In Spain, Carlos Alcaraz's failure is not usually criticized as strongly as the weaker performances of Iga Świątek in Poland. Spanish fans tend to understand young talents, such as Carlos, especially considering his age and amazing potential he has already demonstrated – indicates our interlocutor.
Alcaraz is shocked that many meetings play: in ATP tournaments, a great slam, national teams, and demonstration competitions. For this reason, he is not always best prepared for competition, he already had injuries. “But he is young and wants to play as much as possible,” admits Moreno Ghersi.
Sinner criticized more for the games
Spanish tennis fans probably hoped that in the absence of Jannik Sinner, Carlos Alcaraz, suspended since February, would not only reach for more wins, but also approached the Italian in the ATP ranking. However, this does not happen. Sinner dominated the last months when he could still perform. He was the best, among others at ATP Finals, US Open and this year's Australian Open. Nevertheless, even he had lost last season – e.g. with Alcaraz during Roland Garros or Beijing or with Andrie Rublow in Montreal. How did Italians approach those meetings?
– When he lost the discussion about the failure, it was more strict for Jannik, but it usually lasted several hours. I remember that before the 2024 season he was not able to play at the same level as the best and there were several malicious experts who still doubted his potential, treated every defeat as a way to suggest “will never be like Djoković” – admits Diego Barbiani from Oktennis.it.
But the Italian journalist immediately adds that they were exceptions. – Most of the media always had a lot of recognition for Sinner, because it was thanks to him (and Matteo Berrettini) that tennis has become really popular in our country. He was criticized more when he withdrew from the start at the Paris Games or refused to perform during the Davis Cup two years ago.
In the absence of Jannik Sinner, the highest classified tennis player participating in tournaments is currently the second in the ranking of Alexander Zverev. The German does not use this chance. He started the season great, reaching the Grand Slam final in Melbourne. Then, however, a series of worse results happened.
In the ATP 250 rank tournament in Buenos Aires he dropped out after the second match, at the ATP 500 event in Rio de Janeiro in the quarter -finals, in ATP 500 in Acapulco after the second meeting, from the competition in Indian Wells he flew out after the first performance, and in Miami has recently reached 1/8 of the final.
Tim Boseler from “Tennis Magazin” admits that the prospect of becoming number one in the world could have a negative impact on Zvereva. – Boris Becker suggested it a few days ago in his podcast and I can imagine that this opportunity had extra pressure on Sasha. It was also a mistake to play tournaments on earth courts in South America at the moment of the season – says the German journalist.
Boseler explains, however, that Zvereva's troubles in Germany are not so wide. – You have to realize that Zverev is not a sport superstar in Germany. He is known, but I don't think he has the same “hero's status” as Iga in Poland. Tournaments except the Great Szelem are not followed so carefully. His problems remain in a tennis bubble.
Florian Heer from the Tour Tour Talk portal adds: – Of course, fans and the player himself are disappointed with his results after the Australian Open, but this is not the “end of the world”. The most important performances only this season before Zverev.
Djoković wasn't light
At a different stage of their career than the tennis players mentioned so far, there is today 37-year-old Novak Djoković. Serb has already won almost everything and closer to giving up professional tennis. As we hear, there were plenty of moments when he was criticized in his homeland.
Miodrag Dimitrijević from Nova.RS recalls: – After 2018, every time Novak did not reach the finals in a given tournament, there were a lot of nasty comments on the internet that “time to retire”. Meanwhile, a moment later he won three Grand Slam tournaments in one season (in 2021 and 2023 – editor's note). I know that Novak stopped reading Serbian media and social media seven years ago.
The Serbs' approach to Djokovic has to change recently. – It occupies a special place in the history of our sport and nobody criticizes it. After the last Olympic Games (Djoković won the longed -for gold – editor's note) Serbian media and supporters began to perceive the current part of his career as a blessing from God, like a bonus for everything that has already achieved in this sport.
The most are expected from the largest. Iga Świątek is experiencing a worse moment, but still achieves the results that many could only dream about. The 2025 season is just starting, before the best tournaments on Mączka in a moment – the favorite surface of Christmas. Perhaps this circumstance will allow her to play even better.