Iga Swiatek left stunned by bizarre question related to her hair at US Open: ‘What kind of question…’

Iga Swiatek was left shocked by a reporter's odd question about wearing beads in her hair at the US open.

Iga Swiatek was left bemused at the US Open as a reporter asked her a bizarre question. The Wimbledon champion was in talks with Polish media after her hard-fought second-round 6-1, 4-6, 6-4 win over Suzan Lamens on Thursday afternoon in New York, when a reporter's question left her shocked.

Iga Swiatek faced a bizarre question from a reporter about wearing beads in her hair, prompting backlash from netizens. (Christinne Muschi/The Canadian Press via AP) (AP)

Reporter asks Iga Swiatek about wearing beads in her hair

According to The Sun, relations between Swiatek and the press in her home country have been strained for some time. This tension resurfaced at the Fushing Meadows during an exchange that took place after the English-language portion of her post-match press conference. A reporter asked her if she would consider wearing beads in her hair, similar to her rival Naomi Osaka of Japan, who has sported the style during the tournament.

The tradition of wearing beads in the hair is deeply rooted in African culture and was popularised by Serena Williams and Venus Williams during the peak of their careers.

Swiatek responded, “What kind of question is that? Excuse me?” She added, "If I wanted to weave beads in my hair? No. What’s going on?”

The clip, which has been doing the rounds on social media, showed a male journalist standing and leaving the auditorium in the middle of the conference as the tennis player rubbed her eyes in disbelief, as reported by The Sun.

Netizens react to reporter's question to Iga Swiatek

Netizens were quick to slam the unnamed reporter for his bizarre question to the Wimbledon champion. A user wrote, “What the heck was the reporter trying to do? Catch her saying yes and accuse her of culture appropriation or have her say no and label her as racist?” A second user wrote, “It's the job on the organizers to not let some of things come out, as in todays world it puts a lot of pressure on player, nothing on the moron who asked this.”

A third user wrote, “That reporter had zero knowledge on tennis and just freestyled a question to keep the boss happy lmaooo when you lie on your cv.”

Another user wrote, “Very weird question. Some journalists intentionally ask disingenuous questions to put athletes on the spot. Nice response.”