John McEnroe didn’t appear to be too impressed with Iga Swiatek seemingly trying to distract Lauren Davis during their US Open third round match. Davis was up by 2-0 in the second set and the score was 30-30 in her service game, when Swiatek waved her hands in the air and seemingly tried to distract the American.
But Davis wasn’t distracted at the net as she made her shot to clinch a game point, which she converted to open a 3-0 lead in the second.
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In the end, Swiatek was able to recover from a break down in the second set and close out the match in straight sets with a 6-3 6-4 win.
But she caught criticism shortly after the match as many were surprised to see Swiatek pulling off such a move.
McEnroe on Swiatek seemingly trying to distract Davis
“I don’t know about that. I don’t think that’s legal, that is a little bit below the belt,” McEnroe told Eurosport.
“The last time I saw that was when I was playing in 1986 I believe and [Mansour] Bahrami came in and served, and put his hands wide open and said, ‘Hit me’. And my partner Peter Fleming hit him in the forehead.
And I said, ‘He’s a joke, this guy! I don’t understand what he’s doing. This is serious’. And Bahrami was like ‘Good shot Peter, good shot!’. He loved it. I don’t think Swiatek has to do that.
She’s so good it seems, but she’ll learn. She’s 21”. Barbara Schett, a fellow Eurosport expert, described it as “a bit edgy.” “It’s a bit edgy isn’t it? I remember Jo-Wilfried Tsonga used to do that but it’s actually a distraction to the opponent”.
Swiatek struggled against Davis, but still managed to escape with a two-set win. It was the first meeting between Swiatek and Davis.
