Paula Badosa tells Iga Swiatek to hush her mouth

Iga Swiatek is used to playing much of her matches on different center courts at tournaments. She has earned that right as she has been the WTA for most of two years. As the best player, she deserves the biggest and best courts that events have.

But playing on center courts, especially at the bigger events, such as Grand Slams and Masters 1000s, means larger venues that can keep outside noise to a minimum. Many times, a player on these courts might only hear the crowd noise of their specific match. A tennis player gets used to a certain amount of noise and, therefore, distraction. In Swiatek's case, she has gotten used to a lack of noise.

In the Pole's first-round match against Naomi Osaka, the partisan Paris crowd was in favor of Osaka. This was likely meant as no offense to Swiatek, but Osaka's story would have been more interesting. She had missed a lot of tennis over the last couple of years but was once a former No. 1, and everyone loves a successful comeback.

Paula Badosa disputes Iga Swiatek's complaint about crowd noise

After the match, Swiatek said in an on-court interview, "I have huge respect for you (the fans), and I know we’re playing for you, but sometimes, under a lot of pressure, when you scream something during the rally, it’s really hard to be focused. I usually don’t bring this up because I want to be a player that’s in the zone and focused."

Paula Badosa has struggled with health and form quite a lot over the last couple of years (she lost to Aryna Sabalenka in the third round of the French Open). Because of this, she has often had to play outside courts which means the surrounding sound is greater. The noise comes from other courts and other things happening around the tennis facility. This could be car noise and other non-tennis items.

In other words, Badosa normally deals with a lot more outside sounds than Swiatek. After hearing about Swiatek's comments complaining about the audience, Badosa took issue.

In a press conference after a match at the French Open, Badosa said, "I think (Swiatek) cannot complain because I played Court 8 and 9, and you can hear everything. Like, I can hear Suzanne Lenglen, Philippe Chatrier, Court 6, 7 during the points. I think she's very lucky she can play all the time on Philippe Chatrier...But I don't mind...I played in small courts these days, and I was hearing so much noise. In that moment, I'm just so focused on myself and on my match that it doesn't really bother me. Honestly, I like when the fans cheer and all this. I think I get pumped."

Of course, both Swiatek and Badosa can be correct. Sudden noise can be distracting during a match, especially in the middle of a point. If there is noise throughout a match, a player can get used to that. The question is how focused a player can remain in any situation.

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