There’s not much that can distract the attention of world-class athletes competing at their peak.
But it turns out the “Cotton Eye Joe” might just have the ability to throw anyone off their game.
In an intense second-set tiebreaker during the semifinal of the National Bank Open in Montreal between Jessica Pegula and Iga Swiatek, a familiar song blasted through the speakers, forcing the chair umpire, Marija Cicak, to suspend play.
As the words “If it hadn’t been for the Cotton Eye Joe” reverberated around center court while Swiatek returned a lob from Pegula, who was winning the tiebreak 4-3, both players looked baffled as Cicak instructed them to replay the point.
“Oh wow. ‘Cotton Eye Joe’ just came on, mid-rally,” Tennis Channel commentator Mark Knowles said.
If the surprising distraction took either of the players off their game, it was Pegula, as the world No. 1 Swiatek battled back to win the tiebreaker 7-4 as the top-ranked American wouldn’t score another point following the incident with the song.
Ultimately, Pegula prevailed, upsetting the Polish favorite Swiatek 6-2, 6-7 (4), 6-4 to advance to the final of the Canadian Open.
The win was an important achievement for Pegula, who often reaches the quarterfinals or semifinals of tournaments but fails to go all the way.
Despite her No. 4 world ranking and a quarterfinal berth at every single Grand Slam, Pegula has won two singles titles throughout her career, in which she started competing at WTA main draws in 2012.
Now she has a chance to make a dent into that close-but-no-cigar narrative.
During her last chance to advance to a major semifinal, she collapsed in the third set of the Wimbledon quarterfinal against Marketa Vondrousova, who went on to win the tournament.
Pegula, whose family owns the Buffalo Bills, wore a No. 3 patch at January’s Australian Open to honor Damar Hamlin, as well as her mother Kim, who is battling cognitive issues following a cardiac arrest last year.
