Iga Swiatek doesn’t need any help.
The women’s top seed at the Australian Open was on the right end of a missed call in her 6-1, 6-2 quarterfinal win over American Emma Navarro on Tuesday.
With Navarro desperately trying to fight her way back into the match, she hit a drop shot that Swiatek scrambled to retrieve and was ruled to have done so.
Swiatek would win the point two shots later, however, replays showed that the ball bounced twice before she hit it.
“Terrible for tennis,” tennis commentator Jose Morgado wrote on X.
The point happened at a critical moment with the second set even, 2-2, and Navarro pushing Swiatek on her service game, but the Polish star took the point, the game and never looked back, winning the final four games on her way to the semifinals.
“Honestly, I didn’t see the replay after this point because after the point I didn’t look up for the screens because I wanted to stay focused and didn’t want this point to stay in my head for longer period of
time,” Swiatek said after the match, per The Tennis Letter. “I wasn’t sure if it was a double bounce or I hit it with my frame. It was hard to say because, like, I was full sprinting. I don’t remember, like, even seeing the contact point.
“I don’t know. Sometimes you don’t really look when you hit the ball. So I wasn’t sure. I thought this is like the umpire’s kind of job to call it, you know. I was also waiting for the VAR, but I didn’t see it, so I just kind of proceed. I already focused on the next one.”
Since the umpire missed the call, the onus is on Navarro to stop the point and call for a replay. However, that can be difficult when you are in the middle of an extended rally and it comes with the risk of losing the point if you are wrong.
“Yeah, I think it should be allowed to see after the point even if you play. It happened so fast,” Navarro said. “You hit the shot and she hits it back and you’re just, like, ‘Oh, I guess I’m playing’. You know, in the back of your head you’re, like, ‘OK, maybe I can still win the point even though it wasn’t called.’”
Some have claimed that Swiatek should have owned up to the double bounce — despite her claims that she did not realize it had happened.
“I don’t know if she knew or not,” Navarro said. “Yeah, ultimately, it’s up to the ref to make the call. It is what it is, I guess. It’s tough to place blame on anybody. It’s a tough call. I think the rules should be different that I think we, for sure, should be able to look at it afterwards and decide.”
Swiatek has been bullying her way through the draw, having lost seven games in her past four matches following a 6-4, 6-3 test from Kateřina Siniaková in the opening round.
Swiatek will face another American, Madison Keys, in the semifinals.
