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Iga Swiatek has accused chair umpire Kader Nouni of favoritism, alleging that he ignored her requests to inspect a line call. Swiatek lost 6-7(1), 6-4, 0-6 to Aryna Sabalenka on Thursday, which ended her title defense at the French Open.
Swiatek and Nouni were engaged in a heated exchange during the second set of the match, when the Pole was leading 4-2. She asked Nouni to come down to check the mark for a first serve that landed out, but the umpire refused to do so.
At the post-match press conference, when she was asked to elaborate on the conversation she had with Nouni, Swiatek said she felt the umpire was biased towards Aryna Sabalenka.
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"He was coming down to check every mark when Aryna wanted to, even when the outs were like that. And when I had a mark that was out, he was convincing me that I only came there because I saw my return was out and I framed the return," Swiatek said. [8:12 onwards]
She further explained that she felt his behavior towards her was quite unfair, but that she had moved past it.
"I didn’t really look at the ball; I just went to check the mark, and I saw the mark was out. I wanted him to come down, but he didn’t. So I don’t think that was fair, especially when he came down every time Aryna asked him to. I don’t get it, but I don’t really care," added Swiatek.
With the defeat, Iga Swiatek's 26-match winning streak at the French Open was snapped.
Iga Swiatek grateful to have had a deep run at French Open
Iga Swiatek was proud to have come this far and expressed her love for the tournament at the post-match press conference.
"I love playing here, so for sure I'm happy I was fortunate enough to play so many great tournaments here. Even this one, I played better than weeks before. So I'm just happy that I have this place to come back to every year and just try to push myself," she said.
Even though she wasn't able to defend her title, Swiatek remains one of the strongest players on clay.
