At the WTA Finals in Riyadh, Iga Swiatek faced an unexpected defeat against Elena Rybakina, who made a surprising comeback. After a solid beginning with Swiatek taking the first set 6-3, things took a pretty dramatic turn in the match. Rybakina really took charge in the next sets, winning them 6-1, 6-0, which gave her her first win against Swiatek in their five matchups this year. But what happened after the match stirred up a new wave of controversy — not regarding her tennis skills, but about how she was seen behaving on the court.

Journalist José Morgado shared an interesting observation on X, saying, “No handshake from Swiatek to the umpire.” Morgado’s comment brought back a familiar topic about Swiatek’s behavior after matches, catching everyone’s eye and sparking a lively discussion in the tennis community. But that claim didn’t just slide by without some pushback.

In reply to Morgado, a bunch of social media users popped up in his comments saying that his statement was misleading. One user said, “You should delete this. She did shake hands with the umpire.” Someone else chimed in with more details: “Swiatek did shake hands with the umpire after packing her racket away, maybe she was caught up in the moment of disappointment in just losing the match, I do not think your post is serving any purpose other than being totally misleading.”

Iga Swiatek has dealt with criticism about her behavior when she loses before. In some previous matches, like the 2025 French Open, the Polish tennis star was spotted talking with match umpire Kader Nouni while he went to check the ball mark for Elena Rybakina’s second serve that had been called out. So, there they were, both players tied at 4-4 in the third set. Nouni decided to get up from his seat to check the line call, and the Pole had something to say about it, remarking, “I didn’t ask you to check it.”

Needless to say, this comment really stirred things up in the tennis community with many claiming she didn’t show any sportsmanship. But back to the WTA Finals: Swiatek’s opponent actually shared why she managed to win the match.

The reason behind Elena Rybakina’s victory over Iga Swiatek

So, Iga Swiatek, who’s ranked No. 2 in the world, got hit with a rare bagel, which really changed the game in the Serena Williams Group. Now, Elena Rybakina is looking strong with two wins under her belt from her first two matches. The match kicked off with Swiatek showing her usual intensity, breaking Rybakina’s first service game and wrapping up the opening set with ease. But then, everything changed. Rybakina really turned things around, winning 12 out of the last 13 games with some serious power and focus.

In her post-match on-court interview, as shared by The Tennis Letter on X, Rybakina talked about what helped her win. She mentioned that it was a mix of mental strength and an important tactical change, saying, “Yeah, it’s always very tough to play against Iga. She brings so much intensity on the court and I feel like she started really well the match and I was a little bit slow so the serve straight away she broke me so it was difficult to be down but in the second set I pushed myself, the serve improved and yeah really happy that I stepped in and played better each point so yeah very happy with the performance and thank you so much for support.”

Rybakina really emphasized her approach and how her mindset helped her make that comeback. She mentioned, “Well mentally definitely I’m happy that I stayed focused no matter if I lost the first set I was still trying to stay aggressive and do what we actually talked with the coach so I was trying to follow the tactic a bit and of course focusing more on my serve and after I got some confidence leading in the second set and everything was going my way so yeah I continued and hopefully I will play like this throughout the whole tournament.”

This win was especially important for Rybakina since it broke a recent streak of losses to Swiatek. Well, I guess we’ll just have to wait and see what happens with these two amazing players in the WTA Finals in Riyadh.