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Iga Swiatek got the better of Naomi Osaka in a blockbuster second-round match at the 2024 French Open. The Pole was down by three games in the deciding set, but won five games consecutively to win the match. However, some fans have alleged that she tries to delay and distract her opponents to gain the upper hand.
Swiatek and Osaka were evenly matched from the get-go. The first set went into a tiebreaker, but the World No. 1 emerged victorious 7-6(1). In the second set, however, Osaka did not give her opponent a moment to breathe and breezed past her 6-1.
The Japanese continued her dominance in the deciding set by going up 5-2 but Swiatek showed great mental grit to win the set 7-5 from a dire position.
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One X account, however, posted a still from the match and claimed Swiatek tries to distract her opponent by causing unnecessary delays.
Many fans were in favor of the theory.
"Finally! I thought I was the only one that noticed . I like her game BUT girl her mental game towards the opponent at times is annoying to watch!..." one fan wrote.
"Horrible isn’t she. Also missing the toss like 10 times per match," another fan wrote.
"She is so unlikeble. Naomi shouldn't have choked. She delayed naomi's serve many times. Umpire should've called her out. Boring topspinner" a third fan wrote.
Some fans who defended Swiatek wrote that there was nothing unsportsmanlike in her actions and many other players did it.
"The crap people have to make up to try and paint a negative picture of Iga. Every tennis player does this at some point or another to try and compose if the crowd is getting loud and rowdy, which they were when this picture was taken. You’re all drama queens," one fan wrote.
"1. she doesn’t only do this on break points, just watch any of her matches. 2. a lot of players do this and don’t get hate for it," another fan wrote.
One fan compared Iga Swiatek to Justine Henin and wrote:
"Just like Justine Henin…all the tactics lmao I’m not a fan."
Iga Swiatek's title defense continues as she faces Marie Bouzkova in French Open 2024 3R
Iga Swiatek looked down and out in the final set against Naomi Osaka in the second round of the 2024 French Open. However, she came back to win and continue her title defense.
In the third round, she will go up against Marie Bouzkova on Friday (May 31). The Czech player has been on a roll as she defeated 29th-seed Veronika Kudermetova 6-2, 6-4 in the first round and Jana Fett 6-2, 6-2 in the second round.
