Taylor Fritz was left stunned during his match at the Cincinnati Open after not receiving a point due to the electronic line-calling malfunctioning, and the umpire's explanation did not improve his mood.
Fritz's contest with fellow American Brandon Nakashima was a dramatic battle. Nakashima took the first set 6-4, but the former Wimbledon quarterfinalist struck back to win the second 6-4, having saved a break point at 4-4.
The match was ultimately decided in a deciding set tiebreak. Unfortunately for Fritz and his fans, Nakashima held his nerve superbly and took the tiebreak 7-4, winning the match 6-4, 4-6, 7-6(4).
However, despite the match's enjoyment, Nakashima's victory did not generate most of the attention. Instead, fans were left bewildered by a line-calling malfunction that stopped a point from being awarded to Fritz.
This is not a new issue on the ATP Tour. At last week's Canadian Open, Frances Tiafoe was not given a point against Alejandro Tabilo when the electronic line-calling system did not call out when it was supposed to.
On that occasion, umpire Mohamed Lahyani stopped play and confirmed the ball was out but did not award Tiafoe the point because the rally had continued for too long. Tiafoe was furious and went on to lose in straight sets.
An identical situation occurred during Fritz's first-round battle. With Nakashima serving at 2-3, 30-30 in the deciding set, he appeared to hit a shot that was out by a significant margin. Fritz briefly stopped before continuing to play when there was no call of out.
After the rally continued for a few shots, umpire Greg Allensworth stopped the point and got confirmation from those running the Hawkeye electronic line-calling system that the shot earlier in the rally from Nakashima was out.
As seen in the video below, Fritz was left stunned by Allensworth saying the point must be replayed because the rally continued after the shot that should have been called out, and the 26-year-old should have stopped play if he thought it was out.
"Okay no wait, no no no no. Don't tell me that I need to stop the point when we have electronic line calling. "I mean yeah if we didn't have electronic line calling, I stop. The ball was so far out."
Understandably, Fritz was unhappy with that explanation. He argued stopping play is not something the players should have to consider during matches since electronic line-calling is meant to get all the calls right.
After seeing how far the ball was out, Fritz also asked Allensworth why he did not stop the rally. The umpire replied he could not do that, despite thinking the shot was long when he first saw it.
"Yeah but why don't you stop it? You're in the chair. You saw that ball, it was like a foot out. It's actually ridiculous."
It was a bewildering incident to watch. According to the umpire, he could not intervene as the person officiating the match, and players are expected to handle the situation themselves.
To Fritz's credit, he stayed calm throughout the ordeal. He also said the incident did not affect the match's outcome on social media afterward since he won the replayed point.
"Imagine telling me I needed to stop the point when we have literal Hawkeye electronic line calling. Side note - I don’t think this changes anything in the match considering I won the point replay so don’t take this as an excuse… just pointing out an insane call."
There have been a few controversies on the ATP Tour recently, such as Denis Shapovalov's default in Washington. Hopefully, these will not become consistent issues in men's tennis.
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