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On Sunday, Iga Swiatek lifted her eighth title of 2022 and 11th overall as she defeated Croatia's Donna Vekic 6-3, 3-6, 6-0 to clinch the San Diego Open. But there was one seemingly unsavory moment during the match that caused some controversy among fans on social media.
This was the third meeting between the two players, with Swiatek leading 2-0 in the head-to-head going in. With the win, the Pole has now improved her win-loss record for the season to a dreamlike 64-8. On her way to glory, Swiatek also beat the likes of Qinwen Zheng, Coco Gauff and Jessica Pegula.
Vekic herself maintained an extremely high level throughout the week. She won two qualifying matches before prevailing over players like fifth seed Maria Sakkari, former Slam finalist Karolina Pliskova, third seed Aryna Sabalenka and 2022 Australian Open runner-up Danielle Collins.
There was a brief moment of controversy in the second set though. When Vekic had her only break point of the match at 3-2, 15-40, both players played an astonishing point, which the 47th-ranked Croatian eventually won.
But at one stage during the rally, after returning a shot at the net, Swiatek put both her hands in the air, compelling fans to think that she was trying to distract her opponent.
The act didn't go down well with the tennis faithful on Twitter, with fans demanding that any player indulging in such acts should be given warnings and even penalized.
"I really don’t care what Iga fans think, this is clear and blatant hindrance and is extremely poor gamesmanship. I don’t wanna hear any “but it’s not in the rules” excuse, bc even if it’s not, it’s literally waving arms to distract the opponent so they miss. Like just play tennis," a fan tweeted.
"That’s hindrance and she should get warnings. It’s shameful cause she is a quality player and doesn’t need to attempt to distract opponents with antics," a user wrote.
"Well I hope someone tells her something so she stops doing it because she is the one losing with that. Like the rival gets the point anyway except once. I really hope someone does tell her something," another tweet read.
Here are a few more reactions:
"We're going to meet each other many times, I'm looking forward to it" - Iga Swiatek to Donna Vekic
After winning the San Diego Open on Sunday, Iga Swiatek thanked her team and congratulated Donna Vekic in her on-court interview. The Pole also predicted that the two players were going to face each other multiple times in the future and that she was looking forward to it.
"I wanted to thank the crowd for coming and cheering for us because it's the end of the season and we all need your energy, so thanks guys," Iga Swiatek said. "And congrats to Donna again and her team. I think we're going to meet each other many times, so I'm looking forward to it. It's my first time in San Diego and I'm going to enjoy for the next few days, hopefully, on the beach and not on the tennis courts. Thank you to my team. Without you guys, I wouldn't be here."
