Iga Swiatek was accused of being “insincere” by Danielle Collins after a stormy Olympics clash on Wednesday in which the Pole was left struggling to breathe after being felled by a pile-driver backhand by the powerful American.

In a tense quarter-final, Collins retired at 1-4 down in the final set having left the court for a medical timeout.

When the pair shook hands at the net, the 30-year-old Collins exchanged heated words with a bewildered Swiatek.

“I told Iga she didn’t have to be insincere about my injury. I haven’t had the best experience and I don’t really feel like anybody needs to be insincere,” said Collins, without elaborating on the precise cause of her anger.

“They can be the way that they are, and I can accept that, and I don’t need the fakeness.”

Swiatek said she was puzzled by Collins’s criticism.

“I would rather not get into this because this is her last year on tour,” said the top seed.

“I haven’t had a chance actually to tell her that she had a great journey and she really played well. So, I want to give her all the respect possible.”

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It is not the first display of American frustrations on court at this Olympics.

Coco Gauff hit out in anger at the umpire in her defeat to Donna Vekic, while American Emma Navarro lost to Qinwen Zheng before telling her opponent she “didn’t respect her as a competitor.”

Isaac Johnson of the Manchester Evening News wrote that it was “not a great look for the team” from America.

There had already been a worrying moment in the opening game of the third set when the powerful Collins drilled a fierce backhand into the body of Swiatek as she approached the net.

Swiatek took evasive action but was still struck a painful blow on the chest. She crouched on the ground, catching her breath before continuing.

Collins, ranked ninth, immediately crossed to Swiatek’s side of the net to apologise.

“I couldn’t breathe for some time,” explained Swiatek.

“I guess with the adrenaline that you have on court, you don’t feel these kind of things too hard. So I could get back in the game really quickly.” That exchange was quickly followed by Collins expressing her unhappiness that Swiatek had held up her racquet as she prepared to serve, claiming fans were distracting her.

“There is nobody behind me… play at the server’s pace,” Collins barked at the Pole.

Four-time French Open champion Swiatek has now won 25 matches in a row at Roland Garros and becomes the first Pole to make the last four in any Olympic tennis event.

She will face China’s Zheng Qinwen for a place in the gold medal match. Swiatek swept the first set 6-1 before Collins levelled the quarter-final by claiming the second set 6-2.

Collins’s challenge unravelled when she required an off-court injury time-out after three games of the final set.

Two games later, and with tears in her eyes, the American retired with an injury.

Collins said she had been physically restricted by having had to play three hours on Tuesday when the temperatures rocketed to the mid-30s Celsius.

“I had a heat stroke. Nearly collapsed when I came off court, and I was on a medical table for three hours,” she said.

“I wasn’t able to receive cool water during the entire match. Didn’t have insulated bottles. I overheated. having full body convulsions and somehow played doubles.

“The conditions here have been brutal. And I suffered the consequences of that last night and today.”

NADAL AND ALCARAZ KNOCKED OUT OF OLYMPIC DOUBLES

Rafael Nadal and Carlos Alcaraz were dumped out of the Olympics men’s doubles on Wednesday by Austin Krajicek and Rajeev Ram in possibly Nadal’s last appearance at Roland Garros.

The Spanish dream team lost 6-2, 6-4 to the US fourth seeds, who progressed to the semi-finals in Paris.

Nadal and Alcaraz, dubbed “Nadalcaraz”, have been one of the main talking points at the Paris Games tennis tournament, wowing the crowds in their first two matches.

But they came unstuck in the last eight against doubles specialists Krajicek and Ram, who both have Grand Slam-winning pedigree.

Nadal was broken in the first game of the match on Court Philippe Chatrier and Alcaraz also lost serve as the US pair took the first set.

The Spaniards suffered another costly break in the seventh game of the second set, which ultimately proved decisive.

They battled tigerishly in the 10th game but failed to take advantage of three break points and Krajicek and Ram sealed victory on their second match point.

Nadal, a 14-time French Open champion, said after his painful defeat to Novak Djokovic in the singles competition in Paris that he would make a decision on his future after the Olympics.

The 38-year-old, immortalised in a statue at Roland Garros, has been plagued by injuries in recent years and is now 161st in the world.

Alcaraz still has a chance of winning a medal in the men’s singles competition — he is through to the quarter-finals, where he will face US ninth seed Tommy Paul.

BRIT’S TRIATHLON MIRACLE AS LOSER’S GRACIOUS ACT STUNS GAMES

British athlete Alex Yee has pulled off a stunning victory in the men’s triathlon in sapping conditions in the French capital on Wednesday.

New Zealand’s Hayden Wilde was leading for the majority of the event’s running leg, leading by about 14 seconds with a kilometre remaining.

However, in an astonishing late surge, Yee made up almost 50 metres and steamed past the Kiwi as they approached the tape, winning the event with a time of 1:43:33. Wilde clocked 1:43:39, while Australia’s Matthew Hauser finished seventh with 1:44:17, the best result by an Australian in the Olympic triathlon in 20 years.

Yee and several of his opponents collapsed on the deck, with Wilde wrapping an arm around the winner near the finish line.

Earlier, hometown hero Cassandre Beaugrand won the women’s triathlon in Paris despite concerns over the water quality in the River Seine.

The 27-year-old Beaugrand, joined on the podium by Switzerland’s Julie Derron and Britain’s Beth Potter, finished the course in 1:54:55, just six seconds ahead of silver medallist Derron.

Australians Sophie Linn and Natalie van Coevorden placed 21st and 42nd with times of 1:58:52 and 2:03:01 respectively.

The start to the women’s triathlon was marred by an obvious false start from some of the participants.

Two days of training were cancelled over the weekend, before the men’s event – scheduled for 4pm AEST yesterday – was postponed just four hours before it was due to begin.

The men’s event was moved to a 6:45pm AEST start with the women’s event getting underway at 4pm.

“The stakeholders involved have confirmed that the women’s and the men’s triathlons will go ahead as planned,“ a World Triathlon statement said.

“The results of the latest water analyses … have been assessed as compliant by World Triathlon allowing for the triathlon competitions to take place.”

Paris has spent 1.4 billion euros ($2.5bn AUD) on improvements to sewer and rainwater systems in the lead-up to these games. The triathlon and Olympic marathon swimming to be held in the Seine was meant to be a crowning glory of these Games, which would also leave a legacy in the form of three new public swimming areas to be opened in the river.

Paris’ mayor even swam in the Seine last month in the lead-up to the Games in a bid to prove it was safe. Water tests, meanwhile, showed bacteria levels were within healthy limits even as recently as last week.

Tests are being carried out daily on the water quality in the Seine, which is also due to host the triathlon mixed relay on 5 August, the Olympic marathon swimming on 8 and 9 August, and the Para-triathlon event at the Paralympics, which start on 28 August.

USA’S “DIRTY” OLYMPICS DILEMMA

The USA have a “dirty” Olympics dilemma on their hands.

Team USA are quite comfortably the most talented basketball side in Paris this year and look near certainties to clinch the gold medal with a star-studded line-up that is the envy of the competition.

But it hasn’t all been smooth sailing for the global powerhouses, with coach Steve Kerr coming under fire after Boston Celtics star Jayson Tatum didn’t take to the court in Team USA’s opening round clash against Serbia.

A clinical shooting performance from Kevin Durant and a vintage outing from LeBron James saw Kerr’s side secure a 26-point win.

But Tatum did not step foot onto the court.

“DNP-CD (Did Not Play – Coach’s Decision) is something I saw regularly next to my name in the NBA, but I reckon Tatum would be filthy to read this alongside his name – especially as part of the national team, at an Olympics,” Australian basketball legend Shane Heal told news.com.au.

“While publicly I’m sure he will toe the company line – “I’m all good and it’s part of the role and bigger picture to win gold” – there’s no doubt that privately he would be a little embarrassed and shocked to not even hit the floor,” Heal said.

Tatum is fresh off becoming an NBA champion with the Celtics and has recently signed a five-year deal worth $470m Australian dollars.

Managing “egos” as Heal puts it, will be one of Kerr’s biggest challenges this campaign. How do you get a group of champions to play as a team?

Eyebrows were raised when Tatum’s Celtics teammate and Finals MVP Jaylen Brown was omitted from the squad, with Derrick White instead the preferred option.

Heal believes that was the “right decision taking a role player”, given White’s ability to gel with big name players as a “genuine glue guy”.

The Golden State Warriors coach said he “felt like an idiot” for not playing Tatum against Nikola Jokic’s Serbia but did indicate that Tatum was “going to play” at some stage.

“Every game’s going to be different based on matchups,” Kerr said.

But Heal questioned why Kerr and Team USA couldn’t spin the magnets to squeeze him in for some minutes.

“How does that even happen? … the USA team has so much flexibility and mobility to play the best players, even if they aren’t playing the exact position they normally would,” the four-time Olympian said.

“Kerr’s toughest job is managing minutes and egos, not always in that order, and I agree with him that it’s difficult to play more than 10 players in the 40-minute FIBA rules.

“You just can’t have an NBA superstar, max player and NBA champion give up his off-season to sit on the bench all game.”

Team USA are set to take on South Sudan in their second Olympics match.