French Open 2022 Winner Iga Swiatek shuts down journalist for question on ‘make-up’ during presser

World number one women‘s tennis player Iga Swiatek clinched her second French Open title as she defeated Coco Gauff on Saturday. Swiatek, who has now won 35 consecutive matches, matched the longest unbeaten streak since Venus Williams in 2000. Following her triumph, the tennis player was quizzed about her ‘makeup‘ routine in a two-part question during the post-match press conference.

“One technical question and one which is not,” the reporter said. “The technical is: What is your best shot? Someone says it’s the forehand; someone says it’s the return down-the-line backhand. What do you think? This is the first question. The second question is: Outside of the court, when you go to a party, do you use makeup? Do you like to go elegant and smart and so on? Because many players we have seen in the past, they were staying hours in front of the mirror before going on court and using the makeup. And you seem very natural like this.”

To this, the 21-year-old replied in negative and said, “Okay. Thank you. Well, I’m wearing a hat, so I don’t have to worry about my hair. That’s the most positive thing. I don’t wear makeup, because I don’t feel like I kind of have to, and also, I don’t think that will change anything. Also, it’s going to come off when I use a towel.”

“Well, that’s … Wow, I don’t have that in my PR brief, you know, so it’s hard to answer. Well, I’m not using makeup very often. I honestly just learned how to do makeup like six months ago, so that’s pretty embarrassing,” she added.

Following this interview people all over the internet didn’t delay to point out the underlying sexism in that question. Sports reporter Marnie Vinall tweeted: “Excited for Rafa to be asked about his makeup choices in his presser tomorrow.”

Another user wrote, “Too many female sports competitors have to put up with this sexist c**p. Iga Swiatek deserves better. Can you imagine Nadal, Federer or Djokovic being quizzed about their favourite shaving cream?”