French Open: Swiatek retracts statement on French crowd after previously calling them out

World number one Iga Swiatek praised the French Open crowd following her round-of-16 win over Anastasia Potapova as the Pole said she was seeing a positive difference in their behavior just days after calling them out.
Last Wednesday, Swiatek wasn't happy with how the crowd behaved during her French Open second-round meeting versus former world No. 1 Naomi Osaka. In what was a highly thrilling match in which Swiatek saved a match point and recovered from a 2-5 third-set deficit, the French Open crowd got extremely excited and entertained - which led to stuff that the Polish world No. 1 didn't appreciate much.
"I have huge respect for you guys and I know we are playing for you, but sometimes under a lot of pressure when you scream something during the rally, it’s really hard to be focused," Swiatek told the crowd after the Osaka match.
"I usually don’t bring this up because I want to be a player that’s in the zone and focused. But this is serious for us. We’re fighting our whole lives to be better and better. Sometimes it’s hard to accept that. The stakes are big. There’s a lot of money to win. Losing a few points may change a lot
"Please, guys, if you can support us between the rallies but not during, that would be great. I hope you’re still gonna like me because I know the French crowd might get some players they don’t like and boo. But I love you guys and always love playing here, so let’s continue that."
Since surviving the Osaka challenge, Swiatek has played two more matches at Roland Garros. After ousting Marie Bouzkova 6-4 6-2, Swiatek earned her career-fourth double-bagel win after destroying Anastasia Potapova 6-0 6-0.
Following her latest French Open win and securing a quarterfinal ticket, Swiatek was asked if she had anything new to say about the crowd. The 23-year-old Pole then proceeded to praise the French Open crowd but also acknowledged that her pretty dominant win over Potapova also may have played a part in why they were pretty quiet.
"I think the crowd was calmer also because I didn’t play such a high-intensity match as against Naomi because that was like a popcorn kinda match and everybody was excited and pumped up for it. In this next one, I felt like I had everything under control so I think the crowd felt that," Swiatek said of the crowd after ousting Potapova.
"Yeah, people are listening, they are respectful so I felt a difference but I don’t know what’s the reason. I hope they kinda accepted my little speech after the match and they are not mad at me."