The WTA’s media team faced heavy criticism after using AI to create an image for Iga Swiatek’s second-round match against Alexandra Eala at the Madrid Open earlier this week.
The women’s tennis governing body has since responded to the backlash, explaining that the image became “distorted” due to an image-cropping tool.
Swiatek, who is defending her 2024 Madrid Open title at Caja Magica, advanced to the third round on Thursday (April 24) after a hard-fought victory over Eala, winning 4-6, 6-4, 6-2, and avenging her Miami Open defeat to the rising Filipina star. However, the biggest controversy from the match was not Swiatek’s battle on court.
In WTA’s match preview on its website, a cover image featuring Swiatek and Eala side-by-side appeared to be generated by Artificial Intelligence (AI).
Tennis fans quickly spotted the error, leading to widespread criticism of the organization’s media practices.
Prominent tennis journalist Ben Rothenberg also highlighted the incident on his X account on Thursday. In an unexpected twist, WTA released a questionable statement the next day, largely sidestepping the AI accusations.
Instead, the organization claimed that the image had been improperly “rendered” after undergoing editing.
“An image was originally created in a tool that put together the 2 photos and to fit the size of that position on our website. Unfortunately, it did not render correctly and the cropping then distorted the photo,” WTA wrote in its statement.
Iga Swiatek is set to take on 31st seed Linda Noskova in the third round of the Madrid Open later on Saturday (April 26). The 23-year-old will be looking to capture her first WTA title since claiming her fifth Grand Slam trophy at the French Open last year.
What was wrong with the image promoting Iga Swiatek’s second-round match at 2025 Madrid Open?
For those unfamiliar, the cover image created by the WTA to promote Iga Swiatek and Alexandra Eala’s third-round match in Madrid contained several noticeable errors, making it clear that AI had been used.
In the image, Swiatek and Eala’s hands appeared distorted — a common flaw, as AI still struggles to produce realistic-looking hands.
Additionally, the logos of Swiatek’s primary racket sponsor, Tecnifibre, and Eala’s apparel sponsor, Globe, were noticeably altered. The Nike logo on Eala’s t-shirt was also warped. The WTA has since replaced the image in its article preview.
