Post-match statements and Swiatek

Today I read an article, which sensationalises some so-called fan comments that attacked Swiatek's analysis of her suprise loss to Kalinskaya. The article even repeats totally unacceptable, untrue, nasty comments made about Swiatek such as: she hates women. While it may be true that someone somewhere posted that comment, it doesn't mean that it's your job as a writer or journalist to amplify it, normalise it uncritically and potentially encourage others to read it and perhaps then see Swiatek in a different light, simply because you picked out that comment instead of the supportive ones I'm sure she would have also received from fans. 

See here to read it. 

I think Swiatek is right. It probably did have more to do with her than the opponent. We sometimes see a top 10 player suddenly lose to a much lower ranked player and we wonder why. The answer lies in 1) did someone other than their coach help them beat the top player by giving them certain tips 2) lower ranked players have trained differently, have different tactics from those who went before because tennis, indeed, most sports, change every few years. Kalinskaya is mainly an ITF player and, in some ways, these are trickier than those on the WTA because they're coping with a change in the game. Hence, just playing your game isn't good enough. Lower ranked players are harder to analyse because there are very few videos of them whereas the lower ranked player's coach can analyse the top player more easily. But then Kalinskaya is ranked 40 which is pretty good. 

I do understand because I should have won matches but was taken aback when the opponent seemed to find me difficult yet was able to thwart every tactic fairly quickly afterwards and it's not because they were that good or experienced. If you watch as many matches as I have that doesn't happen by and large. So I found myself dealing with a strange situation I hadn't prepared for, hence, I get where Swiatek is coming from.  

In post-match interviews, we want to know how Swiatek, and any other player, honestly feels about how their match went from their personal perspective and that's the most informative insight they can give us. I often find I can identify with their experience of matchplay, so I enjoy hearing these details about a match (eg: unusually none of my tactics worked) as opposed to just prepared generic statements with no how or why (eg: my opponent was just better on the day; I didn't take my chances; I just played my game etc.) Whether we agree with them or not is not the point. They are not being interviewed to just promote how good their opponents are or parrot what some people might want them to say. It's not for spectators to start criticising, bullying, slandering players about their post-match statements (eg even ridiculous comments that frankly journalists shouldn't repeat, such as she hates women) or imposing their views onto players/the match - you weren't on the court playing the match so don't come high and mighty afterwards and tell them how it went!

I don't know why players are concerned about what random idiots say on social media - journalists and mainstream media are just as inaccurate, sensationalist and abusive as a bot on social media so having any more respect for mainstream news outlets than any other source is misplaced. 

Journalists need to start following their new reporting ethical guidelines and responsibilities eg not writing stories that make people look bad, impact their reputation, character and so on (such guidelines do actually exist, journalists just risk flouting them) before we readers can be bothered with the stories they release. It's time journalism was more heavily criticised and cleaned up from bias and harassment.