Iga Swiatek's double-bounce controversy shows how farcical tennis' new technology is, writes MATTHEW LAMBERT
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As the rest of the sporting world buys hook, line and sinker into the use of video review technology it feels like tennis is reluctant to fully embrace our robot overlords. In the second set of Wednesday's crushing win over Emma Navarro, Iga Swiatek chased down a drop shot and eventually won the point. Immediately Navarro protested to umpire Eva Asderaki that the ball had bounced twice before Swiatek scooped it up and demanded to use the video review technology, which is in place for the first time here at the Australian Open.
![[For Navarro to challenge, the player would have had to stop the point - something that seems unbelievable for a competitor to do in the heat of battle]](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2025/01/22/18/94401725-0-image-a-18_1737569741918.jpg)
Navarro was told, as per the rules, that in order to challenge she would have had to stop the point. The American afterwards said she saw no reason why players should not be permitted to contest an umpire’s call once the point had ended - and I entirely agree.
![[The controversy almost overshadowed another barnstorming win by the ferocious Swiatek]](https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2025/01/22/18/94401721-0-image-a-19_1737569743720.jpg)
It is utterly ridiculous to expect players to make decisions in the heat of battle. Swiatek, off that double bounce, played a drop shot of her own and Navarro had to sprint hell for leather to reach that - how could her brain at the same time process the decision whether or not to challenge? As Navarro said: ‘It happened so fast. You hit the shot and she hits it back, and you're just, like, “Oh, I guess I'm playing”.’.
If we have the technology: use it fully, not this awkward half-way house. What was so farcical about this situation was that, because the point made it 3-2 to Swiatek, during the changeover the crowd were treated to endless replays of the incident, making it crystal clear what had occurred. It was hard luck on Navarro, of course, but it also put Swiatek in an uncomfortable position: should she have taken matters into her owns hands and awarded the point to her opponent?.
