'Came Down Every Time Aryna Asked': Swiatek Slams Umpire After Roland Garros Loss
NewsFriday, 06 June 2025 at 21:05
Iga Swiatek was less than impressed by the performance from umpire Kader Nouni in her match against Aryna Sabalenka at the 2025 Roland Garros.
Swiatek won't add her fifth Roland Garros trophy in 2025. That's because she recorded her first loss at the event since 2021, losing to Aryna Sabalenka in the semi-finals of the tournament.
It was a competitive match, at least in the first two sets, when there was almost nothing that could separate the two title favorites. That changed in the third set, which Sabalenka won 6-0 to secure a spot in the final.
But the most controversial moment of the match came in the second set. After losing the first set 1-7 in the tie-break, winning the second set was crucial for Swiatek.
The Polish player established a one-break advantage early in the set. After the first six games, she was leading 4-2, with Sabalenka serving to stay in the set. Up 30-0, the Belarusian hit a serve which landed close to the line, potentially even out.
Swiatek didn't hit the return cleanly, so her ball landed out, and she immediately proceeded to check the mark, which she thought was out. However, the umpire of the match, Kader Nouni, refused to check the mark, saying that the Pole went to check it already after her return was out.
The four-time French Open champion was angry about the fact that the umpire refused to fulfill her request, telling Nouni his behavior was "not fair" as she passed his chair during the changeover.
After the match, Swiatek was asked about the match again, explaining that she thought Nouni didn't treat her well, especially since he went to check every mark that Sabalenka requested him to check.
"He was coming down to check every mark when Aryna [Sabalenka] wanted to, even when the outs were like that [shows a lot]. And when I had a mark that was out, he was convincing me that I only came there because I saw that my return was out."
Swiatek, unlike Nouni, has hit millions of tens of thousands of forehands in her tennis career, so she immediately knew that the ball would land out, since she hit it with the frame of her racket. Still, that didn't help her convince the umpire.
"I framed the return. I knew from the beginning that it's gonna be out. And I didn't really look at the ball, I just went to check the mark, and I saw the mark was out, I wanted him to come down, but he didn't. Especially when he came down every time Aryna asked him to. I don't get it, but I don't really care."
Swiatek will now shift her focus to the grass-court part of the season. Sabalenka, on the other hand, will have to prepare for her final match against Coco Gauff.
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