'That's atrocious': Tennis world rages over 'ridiculous' farce
The tennis world has reacted with disbelief as unstoppable World No.1 Iga Swiatek was scheduled to play on the second court at the Italian Open against former grand slam champion Bianca Andreescu.
Swiatek has been in mercurial form since the Australian Open having won four consecutive WTA titles and clinching the World No.1 ranking.
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The Polish 21-year-old is bidding for a fifth consecutive title and began her match with a slew of errors on Thursday and trailed 3-0, but battled back to claim a 6-4, 6-1 victory over Victoria Azarenka.
Swiatek's victory marked her 25th straight win in a row, becoming just the fifth woman since 2000 to go on such a strong run.
Next up for the Pole is former US Open winner Bianca Andreescu.
Andreescu only returned to the WTA Tour a few months ago, but has been making great strides on clay.
She hasn't dropped a set in Rome and said she is looking forward to the match against Swiatek.
However, tennis fans were quick to notice that the Italian Open had scheduled the dynamo clash on Grand Stand Arena.
Instead of the World No.1 playing on Centre Court, World No.3 Aryna Sabalenka and American Amanda Animisova will play at 11am.
This will be followed by Rafa Nadal conquerer Denis Shapovalov and local hero Janick Sinner.
Spanish star Paula Badosa and Jil Tiechmann will play later at night on Centre Court.
Men's World No.1 Novak Djokovic will also feature later that night.
The scheduling certainly had many questioning why Swiatek didn't deserve to be on Centre Court, while lower ranked WTA stars such as Badosa get priority.
Teichman v Badosa/Kasatkina over Andreescu v Swiatek for Center Court?
What are the organizers on? That's atrocious. https://t.co/ibkehaLcKP— J. (@Fed21_310) May 12, 2022
LMAO imagine if Paula loses tonight they'll have a Teichmann/Kasatkina in Center Court while Swiatek/Andreescu will be played on the parking lot https://t.co/8fDPIPzsF7
— toilet breaks hate account (@kvithumbert) May 12, 2022
How is Iga Swiatek vs. Bianca Andreescu not on the Center Court? Unbelievable. 🤨 #IBI22
— wtaaddict (@wtaaddict) May 12, 2022
Wow this really made me angry. Not only that she's no.1 (of course Djokovic does play all his matches on CC), but also the defending champion (and Nadal also plays all his matches on CC), but the fact that Badosa would play there instead of her? Or worst, Teichmann-Kasatkina? 😤 https://t.co/uHRHZ9XDyu
— Juan Ignacio (not just Juan) (@juanignacio_ac) May 12, 2022
Swiatek and Andreescu the two remaining slam champions in the draw so let’s put them on grand stand
Rome organizers a joke— Osorieescu (@osorieescu) May 12, 2022
embarrassing. i really try to understand everything but no.1 and the slam champion deserve the center court.
— 1GA, DOHA & SUNSHINE DOUBLE & STUTTGART 🏆 2022 (@kubackara_) May 12, 2022
How is Andreescu-Swiatek not on centre court. Rome hates Bianca, look where she played today
— Panda (@WingelsAttack) May 12, 2022
But they don't have to schedule it at the same time as Sinner. How is Sabalenka-Anisimova or Teichmann-Badosa more deserving of CC than Swiatek-Andreescu?
— Kordian Urzędowski 🇺🇦 (@Kordass) May 12, 2022
Iga Swiatek advances
Swiatek was happy how she reacted to her unusual unforced errors in the Round of 32, before bouncing back to storm home.
"For sure I didn't start well, and everybody could see that," admitted Swiatek.
"But I'm really happy with the way I reacted and how I improved in the first set.
"Also how different the second set looked to the first one because I could really reset and really change the way I played. That's the most positive thing for me."
The last player to win more consecutive matches than Swiatek was Serena Williams, who had a streak of 27 in a row over 2014 and 2015.
"It doesn't really matter for me because every match is different," Swiatek shrugged.
"In many matches, I struggled this season, even though I won them. Anything can happen. Every match is a different story."
Her run makes her outstanding favourite to win a second French Open, which gets under way in 10 days.
When Swiatek won at Roland Garros in 2020 she was ranked No.54, making her the lowest-ranked woman to win the Paris major in the Open era.
with AAP
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