Iga Swiatek speaks out after facing fierce backlash for what she did during win over Katie Boulter

Iga Swiatek helped secure Poland’s place in the United Cup semi-finals with a win over Team GB.

After Hubert Hurkacz gave Poland a 1-0 lead in their tie with Great Britain, Swiatek beat Katie Boulter to book her country a spot in the last four.

It was a great match and one that will no doubt be remembered for quite some time, as Swiatek produced another fine performance at the United Cup.

Photo by Robert Prange/Getty Images

Boulter had won the first set, but the Pole battled back after taking a brief injury time-out having been broken by the Brit.

Many fans were unimpressed by Swiatek’s ‘timely’ injury, but the Pole has since defended herself, claiming that she didn’t intentionally disrupt her opponent’s rhythm.

Iga Swiatek says it ‘wasn’t her intention’ to throw Katie Boulter off her game with medical timeout at the United Cup

Speaking after her three-set victory over Boulter in the United Cup quarter-finals, the world number two denied any claims that she purposefully distracted the Brit with her timeout.

“No, I wasn’t expecting that,” she said.

“I didn’t take medical timeout to throw Katie off her game.

“I did it because I had to and I didn’t feel well.

“But I took some, you know, painkillers, and they started working pretty quickly, I was able to move a bit better.”

Photo by Robert Prange/Getty Images

More Tennis News

While Swiatek claims it wasn’t intentional, she did admit that the timeout had an effect on Boulter.

“But yeah, I felt that she got distracted a bit,” she said.

“She missed some shots right after the break, but it wasn’t my intention, obviously.

“I don’t do these kind of things to do it tactically, it was just that I needed it.”

It’s not the first time that Swiatek took a medical timeout before coming away with victory, as she did so back in 2023, on her way to the Wimbledon quarter-finals.

After only three games of her last 16 tie with Switzerland’s Belinda Bencic, Swiatek took a timeout to treat a blister before eventually winning in three sets.

Photo by Clive Brunskill/Getty Images

What have fans said about Iga Swiatek’s United Cup medical timeout?

Swiatek has defended her actions during her win over Boulter in Australia, but what have fans actually been saying?

“[Iga] with more gamesmanship that makes her so unpopular,” one fan said on X.

“Broken, all out of ideas, has a MTO [Medical timeout], comes back and cruises through the rest of the match, straight from the [Novak] Djokovic manual.

“MTO’s should carry a game penalty.”

Another fan agreed, saying that Boulter’s rhythm was disrupted by the break.

“It’s a shame Katie’s rhythm was broken by the MTO, I hope she learns from that,” they said.

There were others who agreed with this sentiment, as they suggested that the timing of Swiatek’s injury was convenient.

“Classic Iga, disrespects her opponents as usual, everything is fine when winning, health break when losing,” they said.

“Two days into 2025 and Swiatek has already taken her first MTO because she was behind,” another said.

It wasn’t all negative, however, as one fan came to Swiatek’s defense, claiming that the backlash was unfair.

“We rarely see Iga Swiatek take medical timeouts, so why are some people complaining?” they said.

“She took a toilet break after the first set but Boulter also took one after the second.

“What really is the issue?

“Truth is, people just pick on everything players do when they don’t like them.”

It seems as if the tennis world is unsure what to think of Swiatek’s timeout against Boulter, but the Pole has said that she is hoping to be fully fit for her match against Elena Rybakina on January 4.

Photo by Paul Kane/Getty Images

“Well, yeah, I think so,” she said.

“Honestly nothing bad happened.

“It hurt at the time, but I’ll have plenty of time to recover now.”

Swiatek and Poland will take on Rybakina and Kazakhstan on Saturday for a place in the United Cup final.

Click here to read article