Taylor Fritz was left seething during his first-round match at the Cincinnati Open after a “ridiculous” umpire call.
Taylor Fritz and the Cincinnati Open umpire
The Cincinnati Open was embroiled in controversy after Taylor Fritz, the American tennis pro, had a heated exchange with the umpire.
This incident sparked outrage among fans and fellow players who supported Fritz. He was competing against Brandon Nakashima in the first round of the ATP Masters 1000 tournament. The match was closely contested, with Nakashima winning the first set 6-4 and leading 3-2 on serve in the second.
However, the game took a bizarre turn when one of Nakashima’s shots clearly bounced beyond the baseline. Despite this, Hawkeye’s electronic line judge did not call the ball out, and the game continued. Umpire Gregory Allensworth then shouted “stop, stop!” to the players, halting the game. He contacted the Hawkeye officials via his walkie talkie for clarification.
Meanwhile, an irate Fritz demanded an explanation as to why the point wasn’t stopped when the ball was “far out”. The umpire explained that the game hadn’t been halted in time, as Fritz and Nakashima had played “six or seven shots more”.
Fritz objected, insisting to the umpire “I stopped”, but the official disagreed, stating the game would have stopped if Fritz had indeed paused. Replays showed that Fritz did momentarily pause and glance towards the umpire before continuing the game.
Fritz was left unimpressed with the decision
World No 12, visibly frustrated, confronted the umpire saying: “Don’t tell me that I need to stop the point when we have electronic line calling.”
The umpire responded: “I know but that’s how it works, you could have stopped the point and we could have looked at it then.”
Fritz continued his argument stating: “But why didn’t you stop it? You’re in the chair, you saw that ball it was like a foot out.”
Unfortunately for Fritz, an announcement over the loudspeaker stated that “due to a technical error, the point will be replayed” – which was met with boos from the crowd.
Several tennis players rallied behind Fritz’s complaint, including Daniil Medvedev. “Ridiculous decision… ball is out, point is over, point to Fritz. How was this not the outcome?” Medvedev commented on Instagram under a video clip of the point.
Alex Michelsen, another player, echoed Medvedev’s sentiment: “Ball was out why we replaying the point? [two cry-laughing emojis].”
Denis Shapovalov, recently defaulted during an ATP Tour match at the Washington Open, sided with Fritz: “If you would have stopped the point [facepalm, cry-laughing emoji]. I can’t anymore,” he said.
Despite the controversy, Fritz managed to put the incident behind him to win the set and force a decider. However, the 26-year-old ultimately lost 4-6, 6-4, 6-7 (4) after a tense tiebreak. Fritz later posted on X: “Imagine telling me I needed to stop the point when we have literal Hawkeye electronic line calling.”
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