Iga Swiatek on reaching Australian Open semi-finals and showing emotion

Poland's Iga Swiatek, who won the 2020 French Open title as a 19-year-old, is the latest WTA Tour star to feature in a BBC Sport column.

After reaching the Australian Open semi-finals with a gruelling win over Estonia's Kaia Kanepi, Swiatek talks about why she is not afraid to show emotion on the court and how watching Tom Hanks' movie The Terminal made her cry.

In the moments immediately after I won my past two matches, I cried and showed a lot of emotion.

At the end of the fourth-round match against Sorana Cirstea, I was very emotional when I walked to my chair and I started sobbing as I crouched on the court.

And then, when I won my quarter-final against Kaia Kanepi, I threw my racquet in the air and screamed. That was a spontaneous action. Usually I don't do things like that!

The match ended up being the longest of my career at three hours one minute and the match point — where I was stretching for every return from way behind the baseline — was particularly crazy.

Both matches cost me a lot of energy and there was a lot of stress during them. So when I won it was like my body said: 'Finally!'

But I can cry when I win and I can cry when I lose.

Some people have the mentality that it is not good to show emotions but I have the opposite view. Sometimes it helps and sometimes it doesn't, that's true, but you have to understand what is needed in the moment.

Against Kaia, I showed some emotion during the match but I wouldn't say it was more than some others. I felt like it helped me turn the match around and eventually win.

Sometimes it is good to let go. Scream, cry, whatever. You can feel better after that.

I don't think it is bad to show emotion. It is part of being honest with the fans and the people. And if I'm going to give