Andy Roddick has called for a change regarding how chair umpires can make or rectify decisions.
The North American hard court swing is approaching its climax with the US Open set to commence on Monday.
One of the final stops on the road to the final Grand Slam of the year was the Cincinnati Open.
It was arguably the most eventful Masters 1000 tournament of the season so far as shock results and contentious officiating made some of the headlines.
What did Andy Roddick say about officiating after multiple incidents at the Cincinnati Open?
There have been multiple controversial umpire decisions of late, each of which involved chair umpire Greg Allensworth. The incident came in Fritz’s opening round at the Cincinnati Open when the electronic line calling system did not call a ball out.
Allensworth decided to stop the point between the World number 12 and Brandon Nakashima several shots later and announced it would be replayed due to a technical error with the electronic line call system.
This left Taylor Fritz furious as he argued the ball was comfortably out, and while the umpire understood his view, he claimed had the player made an effort to stop the point straightaway, he would have made a decision.
This has frustrated Andy Roddick who called for a change that allows umpires to see a replay and change their original decision as it was incorrect.
“Can you imagine being at your job, whatever it is. And having the ability to get the answer right, knowing the information, having that information affect someone’s livelihood and not using it,” Roddick said on his ‘Served’ podcast.
“Can you imagine that or is this the crazy, dumb tennis world that we live in? Where we have replay, we have access to it, and because some committee hasn’t met or it made dumb decisions, all of a sudden Auger-Aliassime loses to Jack Draper because Draper sends one into the ground before it goes over the net.
“Over the last couple of weeks, Taylor Fritz got screwed on a call, Frances got screwed. We have replay but if you play three or four balls past it and the point ends they are like no you can’t ask for it then, we would rather run the risk of us getting it wrong. We have to stop shooting ourselves in the foot with dumb stuff!”
What happened between Jack Draper and Felix Auger-Aliassime at the Cincinnati Open?
Fritz was not the only player left furious by an umpire’s call as Jack Draper played Felix Auger-Aliassime in the last 16 at the Cincinnati Open.
Holding a match point while serving, Jack Draper finished with a volley winner, but the controversy began as Auger-Aliassime thought the ball hit the ground after it came off the frame of the Brit’s racket.
Umpire Allensworth ruled Draper to have hit a clean shot and awarded him the point and subsequently the match.
Auger-Aliassime argued his case and even called the supervisor to the court. Draper argued that he did not know if he hit it cleanly and wanted the point replayed.
The supervisor was none the wiser and Auger-Aliassime asked umpire Allensworth if he was confident with his decision. The umpire agreed and the players shook hands as Draper advanced after an intense ending to their match.
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