Richard Pagliaro | @tennis_now | Thursday, June 5, 2025
Image source: Adam Beautiful/Getty
Iga Swiatek The chairman referee said Kader Nouni By refusing to check the ball mark, the score for the fair game was missed.
The world’s number one Aryna Sabalenka Snapped Swiatek’s 26-game Roland Garros won a winning streak, beating four-time champion Swiatek’s dream of winning the French Open Champions League dream in a 7-6 (1), 4-6, 6-0 semifinal.
The first No. 1 Swiatek missed the return by leading 4-2 in the second set and then pointed out a mark that she thought Sabalenka’s Serve Long Long Long and asked Chairman Umpire Nouni to get off the tall chair and check the trademark.
The senior French presidential referee clearly told Swiatek that she made a request only after she realized that her return had been out.
Afterwards, Swiatek said she felt there was a double standard, saying Nouni checked the mark when Sabalenka asked, but in the seventh match, she asked for it.
“Well, even in that case, he’s going to come down and check all the marks Aryna wants,” Swiatek said. “When I had a mark of marks, he convinced me I just came there because I saw my reward had come out and I made up the reward, and I knew from the beginning it was going to come out, you know.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m4fxb-xifbs
The five-time Grand Slam champion said it was unfair to her because she felt the referee paid attention to Sabalenka’s demands.
“I didn’t really watch the ball. I just went to check the marks and I saw the traces,” Swiatek said. “I wish he was down, but he didn’t. So I don’t think it was unfair, especially whenever he asked him to do that, it was like he was down.”
I don’t understand, but I really don’t care. ”
This is Sabalenka’s third consecutive Grand Slam final against his American opponent.
Sabalenka, who beat Jessica Pegula, the owner of 20 career titles in the 2024 U.S. Open final, was frustrated with Madison Keys in the Australian Open final in January and will face Gauff in Saturday’s French Open final, both ladies seeking a teenage Roland Garros title.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lz8yn5xueeu
Despite referee Tiff’s chairman, Swiatek said Sabalenka improved her level and intensity in that closed-door final.
“I think the pace is from her super fast. Especially at the start of the game, she played, you know, as hard as possible, and very risky,” Swiatek told the Paris media. “So, it’s hard to attend any rally.
“And then, I was able to do that, so the game was something that happened, like more things happened, because it wasn’t like serving, one shot, coming back and one shot, I could build a rally.
“Yes, but in the third set, I felt like we were kind of back to what happened the first time, she would definitely take advantage of her opportunities, and I didn’t really keep up with the work of the second set.”
