Iga Swiatek was severely criticized by fans because of her conduct before the start of the third set of her third-round match against Yulia Putintseva at Wimbledon.
Swiatek was dumped out of this year’s Championships by the feisty Putintseva, who recovered from a slow start to win 3-6, 6-1, 6-2. The defeat prevented the Pole from reaching the second week of the grass-court major.
It is also the second time this season that Swiatek has lost in the third round of a Grand slam (also lost to Linda Noskova at the same stage in January’s Australian Open).
But one of the talking points after the match was her lengthy bathroom break after dropping the second set. In tennis, longer breaks between points and points can easily sway momentum.
Putintseva was far from happy when she was forced to wait much longer than she anticipated. She quickly got off her seat to avoid muscle stiffness and stay mentally composed for a crucial third set.
The 29-year-old briefly engaged chair umpire Kader Nouni to clarify the rules. Players are usually expected to observe a reasonable time limit between points or sets. Exceeding this limit can easily result in a warning for a time violation.
Swiatek finally appeared on the court, and Putinseva, who spoke to reporters after the match, denied any wrongdoing from World No. 1 but revealed her ploy to step on the court and bide time immediately was not a deliberate tactic.
“Honestly, not at all. I was a bit, like, not annoyed, but she took a lot of time off the court. I don’t know what the rules are. She just went, like, to the toilet break. I don’t know like what happened, how many minutes she was taking.”
“Honestly, at some point, I was so bored. I went like I thought she was coming. Then I was like moving, moving, she’s not there. Again moving, she’s not there. I was kind of getting bored.”
However, several fans have called out the top seed for having “no respect” for her opponent and for using “stalling” tactics to disrupt Putintseva’s momentum, as one user alleged on X (formerly Twitter).
“Iga is such a sore loser and have no respect to her opponent. she always resorts to stalling, petty mind games & gamesmanship when she’s losing.”
