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Taylor Fritz battled valiantly on Monday to defeat a typically resilient Alejandro Davidovich Fokina in straight sets in his 2022 Paris Masters first-round matchup.
Seeded No. 9, Fritz overcame the Spaniard 7-5, 6-2 to go to the tournament's second round, where he will face the winner of the match between Andy Murray and French wildcard Gilles Simon.
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Alejandro Davidovich Fokina, however, did something unusual during the match that stunned tennis fans all around. Fritz was attempting to smash the ball into his opponent's side of the court when the Spaniard attempted to catch him unaware by squatting down and propping up his racquet.
This led Iga Swiatek fans to condemn the entire incident, as they took to social media to point out the double standards. They emphasized how much animosity Swiatek receives every time she acts in such a way and yet Fokina's behavior is completely disregarded and not even questioned.
"Btw I was thinking ofc how a certain female player would get demonized for doing this same thing, articles would be written all over the world, entire podcast segments about it, cheater accusations, etc etc etc," one fan wrote.
"If Iga did that twitter clowns would s**t themselves," another fan tweeted.
"Oh I bet if that was Iga everyone would already be ready for a witchhunt, its not Iga: look how funny," another account posted.
Here are a few more reactions from fans:
"She didn't mind, turned out that she didn't remember it at all, hope the fans will understand too" - Iga Swiatek on her behavior during San Diego Open final against Donna Vekic
Iga Swiatek defeated Donna Vekic to win the San Diego title in September, where she was enveloped in controversy once again.
In the match, the Pole came to the net during a rally in the second set as she tried to save a breakpoint and could be seen flailing both of her arms in the air as Vekic attempted to return the ball.
The Croatian eventually won the point to grab a critical lead, which helped her win the second set 6-3. Some fans, however, weren't pleased with Swiatek's behavior, criticizing her for repeatedly using such distracting tactics.
In light of this, Swiatek revealed in a recent interview that she instantly apologized to Vekic, adding that the Croat barely remembered the incident. The World No. 1, therefore, hoped that fans would understand that she had no ill-intention and that it was just an instinctive reaction on her part.
"Immediately after the game, I went up to Donna and said I apologized to her for that. Donna had no grudges, it turned out that she did not remember it at all," Iga Swiatek said.
"I hope the fans will understand that too. I know that there were a lot of negative comments about this on the Internet. I'm not proud of the fact that there are things on the court that I sometimes don't control. This is instinctive behavior," she added.
