Felix Auger-Aliassime could not believe it after an umpiring error cost him the match against Jack Draper at the 2024 Cincinnati Open.
Auger-Aliassime and Draper's match was one of the most exciting at this year's tournament in Cincinnati. The Canadian took a dramatic opening set opening set 7-5 with his only break of the match.
Draper came back strongly in the second set, taking it 6-4. He then had two match points at 5-4, 40-15 in the third set. Auger-Aliassime saved the first, but the second led to one of the most controversial endings to a match in ATP history.
The Briton came to the net after his serve on the second match point. He had a difficult low volley that somehow made it over the net. But something looked wrong with the shot, which replays confirmed.
Draper seemed to hit the ball into the ground on his side of the net before it went over. The ball hit the top of the net and trickled onto Auger-Aliassime's side of the net, but it should not have mattered since the ball had already bounced on Draper's side.
However, umpire Greg Allensworth did not see it that way. He quickly ruled Draper's shot was fair before calling the match in his favor. Auger-Aliassime smiled in amazement when that call was made.
Draper offered to replay the point if a replay showed the ball had hit the ground, insisting he did not know if it had or not. Even that would have been harsh on the Canadian since he should have won the point, but it would have been better than losing the point and the match.
Auger-Aliassime conducted himself impeccably throughout the situation. He spoke calmly to the umpire and the supervisor, neither of whom thought it would be appropriate to get someone to simply view the replay that fans at home were able to see.
This is the third incident involving Allensworth in the space of two weeks. Denis Shapovalov was defaulted in Washington after the American umpire alerted the tournament supervisor to his confrontation with a crowd member.
Allensworth was also the umpire when Taylor Fritz did not win a point after a line-calling malfunction. The umpire was slightly more unfortunate in that case since he was applying questionable rules he did not create, although he did not explain the situation well to Fritz.
Some were also critical of Draper and did not believe he was unaware of his shot hitting the ground. 2022 Wimbledon runner-up Nick Kyrgios felt the 22-year-old knew what happened.
"Mate. Horrible call, but every player knows you know exactly where you hit it hahaha ridiculous stuff."
Allensworth received a lot of criticism on social media, but former umpire Richard Ings defended him. He believes the video footage of the incident was blurry and not as straightforward as many are making out.
"I'm so glad I'm not an umpire these days. People judging shots from blurred video and then tweeting "it's clear!" and "it's obvious!" To millions who swallow it as truth. The video is blurry and misses the total flight of the ball. It's not clear. It can't be clear."
Jannik Sinner's coach, Daren Cahill, had an idea after the incident that could unite tennis fans: bring in a video challenge system to avoid future problems.
"Video challenge system please. We have it. Use it. Nice to see the US Open implementing the VR system on 8 of its match courts."
0 Comments