Arthur Fils was left astounded after an awful umpiring decision during his contest against Alexander Zverev at the 2024 Paris Masters.
Players having heated interactions with umpires has been a recurring feature of tennis for many years, but there have been a particularly high number of arguments between players and officials in recent months on the ATP Tour.
Zverev became angry at an umpire at the Shanghai Masters. After Mohamed Lahyani called a double-bounce during his match against Tallon Griekspoor, the German angrily accused umpires of "f***ing up the whole tournament."
However, replays showed Zverev was entirely wrong. The ball had clearly bounced a second time before he made contact with it. It is unknown if the two-time Grand Slam runner-up apologized to Lahyani afterward.
Another heated moment in Shanghai came from Frances Tiafoe. With the score at 5-5 in a deciding set tiebreak against Roman Safiullin, this year's US Open semifinalist lost a first serve after being given a second time violation by the umpire.
Tiafoe argued that he should not be penalized because he threw the ball in the air before the clock went to 0, but the umpire realized that the 26-year-old was not making a genuine attempt to serve and stood by his decision.
After losing the following two points to fall to a 5-7, 7-5, 7-6 defeat, Tiafoe went on a furious tirade at the umpire, repeatedly shouting "f*** you!" at him, something he later apologized for.
In both cases, the umpire made the right decision. The rule in Tiafoe's case is more open to interpretation than Zverev's, but the footage evidently showed that the American did not make a genuine attempt to serve.
By contrast, Fils had a genuine reason to feel hard done by in his match against Zverev after the umpire made a dreadful call after the Frenchman hit a serve.
Despite Fils' serve being far inside the service box, the umpire called it out from the chair. The umpire was left red-faced when a challenge from the 20-year-old proved how far in the ball was.
Fils went on to win the replayed point but was still broken by Zverev. Although the lousy call did not contribute to his being broken, he could not hide his frustration at the umpire, as shown in the video below.
"You are so bad man. And you keep going like this. Man, come on. Rise up a little bit."
Umpires are human beings who make mistakes, but that call was undoubtedly one of the worst of the season. Despite his annoyance, Fils kept his composure better than the incidents involving Zverev and Tiafoe previously mentioned.
Zverev went on to win the match 6-4, 3-6, 6-3. He avenged his defeat in the Hamburg Open final to Fils, a match which included an outrageous and successful underarm serve by the Frenchman in the deciding set.
The German subsequently beat Stefanos Tsitsipas in the semifinal, meaning he is just one victory away from overtaking Carlos Alcaraz at No. 2 in the rankings.
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