Iga Swiatek's double-bounce controversy shows how farcical tennis' new technology is, writes MATTHEW LAMBERT

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.

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.

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?

Iga Swiatek's match against Emma Navarro was overshadowed by a bizarre ruling by the Pole appearing to play a shot after it bounced twice

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

The controversy almost overshadowed another barnstorming win by the ferocious Swiatek

Casper Ruud did just that in the 2022 US Open final, owning up to a double bounce and giving the point to Carlos Alcaraz - but that is an unreasonably high bar of sportsmanship to expect others to clear. Jack Draper was embroiled in a similar controversy in Cincinnati last year when he shanked a ball such that he hit it into the court before it went over. His opponent Felix Auger-Aliassime was incandescent and Draper deeply felt the uncomfortable nature of his position.

So please, can we free players from these moral quandaries, fully embrace the technology and just leave them to play?

That whiff of controversy overshadowed another ruthless display from Swiatek. The No2 seed won 6-1, 6-2 and has now dropped only 14 games in five matches. Only Maria Sharapova, Monica Seles and Steffi Graf have dropped fewer games en route to the Australian Open semi-finals. The Pole will be heavy favourite on Thursday against Madison Keys in the second women’s semi-final, after world No1 Aryna Sabalenka takes on her best friend Paula Badosa at 8.30am UK time. The chances are that Sabalenka and Swiatek, the two pre-eminent players in the women’s game, will set up their first ever Grand Slam final meeting.

In the men’s draw yesterday, big-serving Ben Shelton blasted his way through Lorenzo Sonego in four sets and will meet Jannik Sinner in Friday’s semi-finals. The world No1 annihilated home hero Alex de Minaur 6-3, 6-2, 6-1, meaning the Aussies’ wait for a first men’s champion here since 1976 continues.

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