Former WTA pro Rennae Stubbs believes Novak Djokovic's serve on match point in the Cincinnati Masters final clipped the net cord, and was bemused that the net sensors didn't pick it up.
Stubbs was watching the epic Cincinnati final between Novak Djokovic and Carlos Alcaraz that sent the tennis world into a frenzy on Sunday night. The world's top two players battled it out for close to four hours before Djokovic prevailed 5-7, 7-6, 7-6 to win and take away his third Western & Southern Open title.
Stubbs couldn't help but hear Djokovic's second serve on his fifth match point clip the top part of the net before it eventually landed in, and Alcaraz planted it out of the court on his return. Not to take any gloss away from Djokovic's remarkable win, Stubbs believes Alcaraz's reaction a possible let sound back up her claim.
"Unbelievable match! Unbelievable but I’m fairly certain there was a let on MP! Take a listen and watch Carlos reaction. Not taking it away from Novak, what an effort but man sucks if it’s true."
It will be interesting to hear Stubbs' thoughts in detail when she hosts the Power Hour Show at 5 pm on Prime Video. And it looks like the 52-year-old former coach of Serena Williams wasn't the only one who might have picked up a possible let on serve.
New addition to Coco Gauff's coaching team, Brad Gilbert, commented on Stubb's post on X, highlighting the occasional inconsistency and frailties of the machines that tend to pick up lets on high kick serves that jump over the net by some margin, but fail to do so for those that actually tap the net.
"I am certain that machine calls phantom lets on kick serves that are 6 inches over the net and will miss some that nic the net, probably time we do away with let’s altogether."
Since 1996, tennis officials phased out net-cord judges in favor of an electronic device called Trinity. Tennis nets are usually fitted with electronic sensors on either side, and any subtle sounds or vibrations during serve are picked up and relayed to this device which is within the umpire's grasp.
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