A controversial moment from a recent ATP match created a lot of discussion in the tennis community, and World No. 2 Novak Djokovic chimed in on the matter.
A few days ago, Felix Auger-Aliassime and Jack Draper played at the 2024 Cincinnati Open. It was a fabulous match that went to three sets. Unfortunately, though, the match ended with a controversial umpiring decision.
No athlete wants a match to come down to a judgment call by an umpire, even with the strict rules in place. There is always a chance that some situation is not covered by the rules.
Draper returned a ball, but the ball hit his racket and then his side of the court, which, per the rules, is an automatic point for his opponent. The umpire, Greg Allensworth, didn't see that, so he ruled the point to the British player and called the game, set, and match.
Auger-Aliassime couldn't believe it and pleaded his case at the net, with Draper offering to use the video replay if he could, which wasn't the case. Since that wasn't possible due to the lack of such technology in tennis, the Canadian had to concede the point.
The slow-motion replay showed that the point should have gone to Auger-Alissime, and it would have been a deuce instead of a finished tennis match, which saw the British player advance.
The situation sparked a conversation about the lack of video reviews in tennis because many players have called upon it. The technology is there, and we know it's available because there are slow-motion replays for the viewers.
From the various statistics, fans even know how many times a ball spins, so the technology side was never an issue. The ATP's reluctance to implement the technology, for whatever reason, is why it's not currently in use.
One of the sport's most prominent voices has backed technology implementation after this recent controversy. Djokovic took X (formerly Twitter) to share his thoughts and call for implementing video review.
"It’s embarrassing that we don’t have video replay of these kind of situations on the court. What’s even more ridiculous is that we don’t have the rule in place that would allow chair umpires to change the original call based on the video review that happens off the court!"
"Everyone who watches TV sees what happened on the replay, yet the players on the court are kept in “dark” not knowing what’s the outcome. We have Hawkeye for line calls, we live in the technologically advanced 21st century! Please respective Tours, make sure this nonsense never happens again!"
It was an unfortunate situation, especially for Auger-Aliassime. Umpires make mistakes, and they should be allowed to make mistakes; however, if there is a way to minimize those mistakes, then there is no good argument against that.
This mistake unfairly ended a tennis match that might have ended differently if it hadn't happened, and worst of all, it was something that the video review would have made easy to avoid.