The Australian Open is now approaching its final stages, with Aryna Sabalenka and Madison Keys confirmed for the women’s singles final.
WTA number one Sabalenka is chasing a third successive Australian Open title, having beaten Paula Badosa in the semi-finals.
Keys then secured her spot by overcoming Iga Swiatek, who had just made it through a controversial quarter-final with Emma Navarro.
Tied 2-2 in the second set with an advantage, Swiatek appeared to let the ball bounce twice on her side before going on to win the rally.
And given her failure to stop play at the time, Navarro lost the controversial point against Swiatek, with the American unable to challenge it.
Australian Open told to figure out video review rule after Iga Swiatek point vs Emma Navarro
Boris Becker thinks ‘not up’ points should be challenged after, with his fellow former professionals Steve Johnson and Sam Querrey now both calling for a similar change to the video review rule.
“They need to figure that out because we are way too deep into the technology world to not be getting things like this correct, especially in the big moments,” Johnson said on the Nothing Major podcast.
“I feel like it would take 10 seconds to look at it, say it bounced twice, we have Hawkeye and Hawkeye live, we do all these things, we can get everything right at this point and it does not need to take that long. It’s black and white, cut and dry. It bounced twice, point over. Let’s get it right.
“It’s a bit of a bummer for sure for Australia and I hope they can figure it out because you don’t want this to happen in a final, break point in the fifth set or something crazy where it could determine the tournament rather than just getting the call correct.”
Sam Querrey says Emma Navarro can’t be blamed for losing point vs Iga Swiatek
Navarro can certainly count herself unlucky for the controversial incident, although there is an arguement to be made that it had little outcome on the overall score.
The American lost 6-1, 6-2 to the former world number one at Rod Laver Arena after just one hour and 29 minutes.
But there is an argument to be made for sportsmanship, with Thanasi Kokkinakis praised by tennis fans after giving Jack Draper a point during their Australian Open match after an error from the umpire.
Both Kokkinakis and Draper have since exited the Grand Slam, along with Navarro, who according to Querrey cannot be blamed for failing to stop play against Swiatek.
Responding to Johnson, Querrey said: “It’s hard to because the umpire mentioned that Emma needed to stop that point to make that happen.
“But it’s 2-2, they are going back and forth. It’s not on the player! They should be able to finish the point and then go back and retrospectively say it’s a double bounce.”
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