Pam Shriver jumps in Iga Swiatek’s defence in the ‘distraction’ controversy following outrage from fans against the World No. 1

Pam Shriver jumps in Iga Swiatek’s defence in the ‘distraction’ controversy following outrage from fans against the World No. 1

Iga Swiatek and Pam Shriver

World No. 1 Iga Swiatek won her 8th title of the season at the 2022 San Diego Open. She defeated Donna Vekic in the finals in over 3-sets but not without some controversy. At one of the points, Swiatek barged in from the baseline to return a drop shot from Vekic.

After making the return, standing on the net, Swiatek waved her hands in what looked like an attempt to distract Vekic although it failed as the Croatian won the point. Fans were unhappy with Swiatek for attempting this again and made their anger known on social media.

Swiatek then put an apology tweet where Doubles great Pam Shriver showed support to the Pole. “Love the apology for the impulsive hinderance that was not necessary. Making amends for mistakes is a mature thing to do. I loved my decision to go watch a regional @WTA first as a fan, then I became an accidental coach. I LOVE TENNIS!!,” tweeted Shriver.

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Iga Swiatek moving closer to the 11,000 ranking points mark following the win in San Diego

Iga Swiatek
Iga Swiatek (IMAGO / USA TODAY Network)

Shriver showing support for Swiatek would be of help to the Pole. This is the second time Swiatek has done this having earlier done it in the third round of the 2022 US Open before going on to win the title. Nevertheless, the point was won by Vekic and the finals by Swiatek.

Winning the title, Swiatek claimed another 500 ranking points taking her tally to a massive 10835 points. For context, World No. 2 Ons Jabeur is at 4555 points while World No. 3 Anett Kontaveit is at 3796 points. Swiatek can breach the 12,000 ranking point mark if she wins the 2022 WTA Finals unbeaten in group stages.

She can however not match Serena Williams‘ tally in the 2013 season. Williams racked up a humongous total of 13,260 points winning 11 titles that year including the Year-End Championships along with the French Open and the US Open.

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