Felix Auger-Aliassime was robbed of a potential comeback against Jack Draper at the Cincinnati Open on Friday. A highly-competitive tennis match unfortunately ended in controversy after an egregious ruling on the final point.
It was an all-time awful decision that could not be overturned without replay.
Auger-Aliassime and Draper split the first two sets in the Round of 16. The latter led the former 5-4 in the third. He played to his second match point and held serve.
What happened next is mind-boggling! Draper hit a weak drop shot off of Auger-Aliassime’s return that hit the tape and barely rolled over. It was deemed the winner. Chair umpire Greg Allensworth called it down to effectively end the match.
Auger-Aliassime did not agree. He argued that the ball hit the frame of Draper’s racket, then the ground, before it looped onto the net cord and over. He thought it was down, which would have pushed the 10th game of the third set to a deuce and kept the match alive.
That is horrendous what you just did. Did you not see the ball bounce on the floor? He shanked it onto the floor!
We’re going to leave here, this will be everywhere and it’s going to look ridiculous.
I’m going to ask you one more time, if you’re 100% sure that you’re not going to leave here and that you have no doubt, not one ounce of doubt in yourself that that was a clean volley winner, then I’ll shake his hand right now and the match will be over.
— Felix Auger-Aliassime
The umpire responded back to say that he saw it as a winner.
Replay does not exist in tennis, so the umpire’s decision was final. However, it was blatantly wrong.
Draper’s shot undeniably bounced on his side of the court. Auger-Aliassime should have won the point. It was as clear as day on the broadcast replay!
All things considered, Auger-Aliassime did a pretty good job of keeping his composure. He had every reason to blow up on Allensworth but managed to stay relatively calm.
Draper didn’t quite understand what was going on.
I serve-volleyed, he hit an amazing pass at my feet. I was shocked at the pass, I was too busy looking at him. I didn’t see what happened.
I looked at the umpire straight away to see if he called a double bounce or not. As a player, I’m trying to focus on what I’m doing – I can’t make that call.
— Jack Draper
The victor said he would have been happy to replay the point if the umpire had asked him to do so. No such request was made. Draper took his win, showed his respect to Auger-Aliassime and moved on.