The Cincinnati Open, for all the quality we have been blessed with regarding the players in action, has been a hugely controversial tournament all around.
However, few moments have drawn more scrutiny than during Felix Auger Aliassime’s loss to Jack Draper, as the chair umpire made yet another shocking call that he would not overrule.
In what was match point for the British number one, he raced into the net and appeared to have found a magical pick-up to win the point and the match.
However, upon reflection, and after plenty of complaining from the Canadian, it was clear that the ball had bounced twice before Draper returned it to the other side. Yet, the point stood, and the match was over.
Felix Auger Aliassime reacts to Jack Draper controversy at Cincinnati Open
Despite being blatantly cheated out of a point, Auger Aliassime was remarkably reserved and mature in his protestations to the Cincinnati Open umpire, who has made so many notable gaffes this season.
He implored Draper to see reason, whilst he feigned innocence, and despite the supervisor dawdling down, even he could not see sense.
The only person who was right was Auger Aliassime, and he was the only one who went ignored.
However, taking to X just last night, he has finally broken his silence, calling for a major rule change to the sport after such an acrimonious end to a great match.
He wrote: ‘Unfortunate ending of my tournament here in Cincinnati but I hope we find a way to deal with these situations in a more objective way going forward. That being said, I’m still encouraged by the level I played this week leading into the last Grand Slam of the year. Time to move on and focus on my preparation for the US Open. See you in NY.’
Tennis needs to automate decisions
Disappointingly, we have seen so many huge officiating errors in recent months in the world of tennis.
Denis Shapovalov was wrongly defaulted on match point against Ben Shelton by the same umpire involved in this Auger Aliassime controversy, meanwhile Coco Gauff was left crying at the Olympics with one point that went against her in Paris.
It’s so frustrating to see these umpires make such high-profile errors in such important moments, and should it continue, the calls for total automation will grow.
With football, the introduction of technology is an awkward one, because there are so many subjective rulings within the sport that prohibit a total takeover from VAR.
However, tennis is far more cut and dry, with double bounces, line calls, foot faults and more all obvious to see and impossible to dispute.
A solution needs to be found soon, as there is too much at stake, both financially and personally, to allow humans to keep making these errors.
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