The Lyon Open produced one of the most shocking scenes the ATP season yielded so far which resulted in the defaulting of Mikael Ymer, and Taylor Fritz offered his thoughts on it.
It all unfolded in the afternoon hours in Lyon on Wednesday, May 24th. It was a match between native player Arthur Fils and Swede Mikael Ymer and it was a good one. A lot of twists and turns and good play from both sides saw the match very competitive with the French crowd fiercely backing their player.
The pivotal moment unfolded late in the set when Ymer asked the umpire to check a mark that the umpire called in. The replay appeared to show the ball bounce directly on the line however Ymer was convinced the ball was out. He asked the umpire to come check the mark but as he continued to play, the umpire refused to do so.
The explanation was that he was late but Ymer wasn't having any of it pointing out that late calls to check do happen in tennis and he's right. Fils went up 40-30 in the game and then broke after the next point prompting Ymer to slam his racquet into the umpire chair creating a hole in it. The result of it was a default which Ymer had no choice but to accept.
Fritz reacted to the video of the situation posted by TennisTV explaining that just because the ball bounced badly after it dropped doesn't mean that it hit the line. A lot of people on social media pointed out that the bad bounce means that the ball truly hit the line. According to Fritz, that's not true as it can happen anywhere on the court.
Not justifying the reaction at all but the amount of people that think a bad bounce = line hit is insane… crazy bounces happen all over the court and especially near lines.
Ymer is likely looking at a big fine, possibly similar to what Hugo Gaston was recently fined by the ATP for multiple violations of unsportsmanlike conduct. The ATP is yet to announce any fine but Zverev was fined 40.000 for hitting the umpire chair after a loss in Mexico. This looked very similar so a similar fine is likely to be handed out.
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