PARIS (AP) —
Frances Tiafoe
heaved a sigh of exasperation when the query came from a journalist, before jokingly referring to the fact that the athlete who had defeated him as “entertaining.”
French Open
quarterfinals on Tuesday,
Lorenzo Musetti
, was issued just a warning for kicking a tennis ball that accidentally struck a linesperson.
“I mean, clearly he did that, and nothing occurred. That strikes me as humorous,” remarked No. 15 seed Tiafoe afterwards.
His defeat was marked by scores of 6-2, 4-6, 7-5, 6-2.
To No. 8 Musetti, ” Nothing occurred, hence there’s nothing substantial to discuss. Clearly, consistency is lacking, so we just have to accept it as it is.”
In contrast to most high-profile tennis competitions, which depend on electronic line-calling systems, these events still use human judges for calls.
People are on the court at Roland-Garros.
To decide if shots are in or out. This was another issue Tiafoe expressed on Tuesday, as there were certain calls he contested, with television replays later proving him correct on at least one occasion.
In previous instances, players have been known to lose matches after accidentally or intentionally hitting a chair umpire or a linesperson with a ball, causing injury. Despite being struck on Tuesday, the female official carried on with her duties.
A prominent instance of disqualification occurred during the 2020 U.S. Open, involving the 24-time Grand Slam winner.
Novak Djokovic
He angrily swung his racket at a ball during the break between games and inadvertently struck a female line judge in the throat.
Musetti, who secured a bronze medal for Italy at the Paris Olympics and reached the semifinals at Wimbledon last year, found herself trailing Tiafoe 5-3 in the second set after dropping a game on Court Philippe-Chatrier.
While Musetti received his serves, he swung at a ball with his left foot and accidentally hit a female linesperson who was stationed behind the baseline making calls. Following this incident, Musetti offered an apology. The chair umpire then issued him a warning for breaching the code of conduct.
There isn’t any penalty for an initial warning like that.
Frankly, it was quite an unfortunate coincidence. I must admit, I felt a bit scared, primarily because I certainly did not wish to cause anyone harm. Therefore, I promptly approached the line umpire and expressed my apologies to everybody,” Musetti stated. “A warning was justified, however, I believe the umpire realized there was no intent behind it, which might be why they allowed me to keep playing.
Shortly after, Tiafoe won that set. However, Musetti secured the final two sets to claim his inaugural semifinal appearance at Roland-Garros.
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AP tennis:
https://apnews.com/hub/tennis
