Novak Djokovic would have avoided a default at the 2020 US Open if Video Review (VR) technology had been in place, according to former Australian tennis player Paul McNamee.
In the wake of another controversial umpiring decision at the Cincinnati Open, the former men's doubles World No. 1 emphasized the importance of using replay footage to clear any contentious calls in tennis matches.
Recently, in a match involving Jack Draper and Felix Auger-Aliassime, there was drama on match point when the Britsh player appeared to have inadvertently hit the ball onto the turf before it lopped over the net.
The chair umpire, Greg Allensorth, who had the best view of anyone on the court, judged that Draper's shot was clean. Because it was on a match point, he sealed the victory.
Auger-Aliassime was left fuming and engaged in a heated discussion with the officials after summoning the supervisor to the court. The Canadian felt robbed as it was on a match point and believed that Draper's shot came off his frame and onto his side of the court first before it crossed over.
The incident triggered widespread advocacy for implementing the Video Review technology in tennis. High-profile players like Novak Djokovic and Nick Kyrgios have chimed in on the topic on social media.
The Serb believes it's "embarrassing" that tennis authorities have not put a system in place in this digital age to settle contentious matters like the one in Cincinnati, and it's "nonsensical" that tennis players are "kept in the dark" having to rely on the umpire who make up their mind on live viewing.
McNamee has shared his opinion in the wake of this incident and stated that it is relatable to Djokovic's disqualification from the 2020 US Open because of the absence of video replay.
Djokovic was infamously defaulted after accidentally hitting a tennis ball into a line judge's throat during his fourth-round match against Spain's Pablo Carreno Busta.
The tournament issued a statement after the match and clarified that the 37-year-old violated Article III: Player On-Site Offenses relating to "ball abuse" that is inscribed in the Grand Slam rulebook. Djokovic, who was the outright favorite to win the event, was therefore eliminated.
McNamee, 69, took to X (formerly Twitter) to explain how, upon reviewing the replay, both situations could have been easily prevented. More specifically, the Djokovic default was not as bad as some people make it out to be, and there was "no malice."
"Given the Draper-FAA shocker, why not allow replays in match defining points? Another example was the default of Djokovic at the US Open…if the supervisor had watched a replay he would have seen it was not egregious or in malice…it was not an automatic default as many believe."
Tennis fans' pleas will come to fruition, at least for this year's US Open, as the ATP and WTA are under mounting pressure to embrace the video technology system.
Last year, the US Open used a video review system to provide conclusive officiating on double bounces and reverse disqualifications. It has been reported that it will also be used on multiple courts in this year's tournament.
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