The first week of Wimbledon 2025 has been a graveyard for seeded players. And it’s not over yet. The 6th day of the tournament has got some key clashes, but none bigger than the 3rd Round clash between Iga Swiatek and Danielle Collins. Will another seeded player fall before the quarterfinals? The answer is a resounding no as Swiatek dispatched Collins in straight sets.
Their dynamic has been like fire and ice, oil and water, whichever way you wanna put it. And when they met on July 5, 2025, on the grass, they knew a lot more than a win was on the line. It’s respect, honor, and bragging rights over the other that was at stake with Swiatek winning the latest battle. But how did this start? Because back in 2021, the American had only good things to say about her compatriot, and that Iga Swiatek was “a great competitor” and a player she “really enjoyed watching.”
But fast forward to 2024, and it all started to unravel between the Polish and the American.
It all started on clay and went downhill pretty quickly
2024 Paris Olympics
The first instance of their animosity was seen at the Paris Olympics. It was Swiatek’s playing field where she had won 4 straight French Opens, including in 2024. The work was cut out for Collins, but the American star showed she was up for it. Dropping the first set 1-6, Collins came back strong to win the 2nd set 6-2. But then, the Pole would take a controversially lengthy bathroom break. Taking 9 minutes to come back after the finish of the 2nd set, many deemed it to be a disruptive tactic to break Collins’ momentum.
Generally, 5 minutes is the stipulated time, and 10 minutes under extraordinary circumstances. But that was not the only issue Collins had with her opponent. Collins wanted Swiatek to play at the server’s pace. Apparently, the clay court expert was delaying Danielle Collins’ game by raising the racket and holding up her opponent. Well, whatever Iga Swiatek did worked. Because she raced to a 3-0 lead in the 3rd set.
Paris 2024 Olympics – Tennis – Women’s Singles Quarterfinals – Roland-Garros Stadium, Paris, France – July 31, 2024. Iga Swiatek of Poland and Danielle Collins of United States shake hands after their match. REUTERS/Edgar Su
But there was more controversy to come. Collins seemed to have a medical issue, which made her take a timeout after 3-0 and eventually retire when the score read 4-1 in the third, gifting the game to Swiatek. Well, not the best of ways for a key clash to end, but it got worse. During the handshake, Danielle Collins seemed to say something to her counterpart, which left Swiatek surprised.
Afterwards, the American made a huge allegation against her quarterfinal opponent of being “fake” and “insincere” about Collins’ injury. “I told Iga she didn’t have to be insincere about, you know, my injury.” And she kept on piling up on the number one seed. “There’s a lot that happens on camera, and there are a lot of people with a ton of charisma and come out and are one way on camera and another way in the locker room.”
The 2022 French Open Champion responded by steering away from the incident: “Well, I won’t argue about it, because I’ve never done anything unpleasant towards her.” As for the gamesmanship issues that may have ticked off Collins, she is not the only one to face the same kind of problems against Iga Swiatek, and definitely not the last. And the Collins-Swiatek saga was just getting started.
July 1, 2025, London, Celestynow, England: IGA SWIATEK of Poland during the match against P. Kudermetova in the first round of Championships 2025 at Wimbledon AELTC in London. London England – ZUMAc278 20250702_zsp_c278_013 Copyright: xMarcinxCholewinskix
The cold United Cup face-off
The duo met again in the United Cup, sort of. When the USA and Poland qualified for the Championship round, all the competitors had to do the handshake with their opponents, which brought Iga Swiatek and Danielle Collins together. And Collins barely made eye contact with Swiatek during the handshake. The American even made an eye-roll, which went viral on multiple news outlets, clearly keeping the tension alive between the 2 players.
Since then, the duo have met once at the Italian Open where the 31-year-old triumphed over Iga Swiatek in straight sets. Everything went smoothly in the game, and Collins herself has tried to de-escalate the situation since, although there is a cold, uneasy feeling that persists.
The frostiness that persists between Iga Swiatek and Danielle Collins
While the allegations of gamesmanship against Swiatek aren’t new, the words said by Collins in public has to have degraded the possibility of having a professional relationship on the circuit. Although Collins has tried her part to reach out and express her regret about how things have gone down. Speaking to CANAL+ in January about the Paris Olympics incident, Collins had said, “These things happen sometimes on the court and I was in a lot of physical pain during that time of the match and feel uncomfortable with her reaction. Hopefully, we can move on from it & be good competitors & good people.”
And she even spoke of mistakes being made on her part. “I’m trying to be the best person I can be and I fall short of that sometimes and people make mistakes.” Collins has even regarded Iga Swiatek as her friend although it may be a bit too forced, especially when Swiatek has barely seemed to acknowledge Collins since the Olympics saga. The 2025 Wimbledon clash will be their 10th clash. So far, Swiatek has 7 wins and Collins 2.
Speaking about Danielle Collins in the pre-match presser, Iga Swiatek was as distant as possible. “I haven’t watched any of her games, so… I will need to prepare tactically for sure tomorrow.” But she knows the opponent whom she has played 9 times and used that to her advantage perfectly. Follow the Championships in real-time with EssentiallySports’ Live Blog updates.
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