By Richard Pagliaro | @Tennis_Now | Wednesday, June 7, 2023
The physique blow Coco Gauff inflicted on Iga Swiatek wasn’t a malicious strike, the sixth seed mentioned afterward.
Blistering a backhand drive into the physique, Gauff tattooed the two-time Roland Garros champion knocking her to the filth within the third sport of the second set. Gauff raised her hand and instantly apologized for the strike.
Swiatek shook off the shot, rose from the crimson clay with a swath of crushed crimson brick streaked throughout her shoulder and dusted Gauff 6-4, 6-2, scoring her twelfth straight Roland Garros win to succeed in the semifinals for the third yr.
Asked concerning the alternate afterward, Gauff mentioned “I didn’t try to hit her.”
Pointing out she missed the same backhand just a few factors earlier, Gauff mentioned she was making an attempt to hit laborious by way of the center of the court docket and caught Swiatek within the course of.
“The last point I lost because I was avoiding the — I kind of shanked the backhand. Then the next one I said if I get it again, I’m not going to hit my target,” Gauff mentioned. “It wasn’t her. I didn’t try to hit her.
“I used to be simply making an attempt to hit the ball laborious in the course of the court docket.”
Prevailing in a rematch of the 2022 final, Swiatek swept Gauff for the seventh time in as many meetings. The world No. 1 said she doesn’t believe Gauff tried to hit her.
“I do not actually know if that was her solely possibility or not, however I do know Coco is a pleasant particular person, and he or she would not imply it,” Swiatek said. “Nothing private. It occurs.”
A stable Iga punched her ticket to the #RolandGarros semifinals because of a 6-4, 6-2 win in opposition to Coco Gauff.
Watch the highlights 👇 pic.twitter.com/ucFpeoWwr1
— Roland-Garros (@rolandgarros) June 7, 2023
Tennis is a territorial sport and Gauff mentioned whenever you drift near web within the professional sport, you run the chance of getting nailed.
“I apologized after, but I think she knows that’s part of the game,” Gauff mentioned. “If you hit a bad ball and you decide to run to the net, there’s always a risk that you get hit, and there’s always the risk that the person might miss trying to avoid you. It worked the first time. The second time it didn’t work.
“But if I used to be in her place, I would not be mad at me both as a result of she ran ahead. I feel after I mentioned sorry, she shook her head, and we had a mutual understanding that that was the one shot I actually had.”
Photo credit score: Aurelien Meunier/Getty
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