Felix Auger-Aliassime handles controversial loss with extremely high class
Canadian tennis star Felix Auger-Aliassime had every reason to blow up after being eliminated from the Cincinnati Open last night.
The Canadian fell to Great Britain’s Jack Draper 7-5, 4-6, 4-6 in a third-round match up. The ending, however, was extremely controversial.
With Draper serving while up 40-30 for the match, Auger-Aliassime appeared to hit a fantastic return, which his opponent botched. The ball looked as though it had bounced off Draper’s racquet and into the ground before getting back over the net. The chair ump saw it differently, however, awarding both the point and the match to Draper.
THE MOST CONTROVERSIAL MATCH POINT EVER!!!
WHAT JUST HAPPENED…? š±#CincyTennis pic.twitter.com/cxU4H2A4Af
— Tennis TV (@TennisTV) August 17, 2024
“Did you not see the ball bounce on the floor?” Auger-Aliassime asked the chair ump. “He shanked it on the floor!”
“I didn’t see that,” the chair ump responded.
Draper, meanwhile, said he was open to replaying the point if the chair ump felt the ball had bounced on his side after he made contact with it. He claimed, however, that he wasn’t sure whether it had bounced or not, something Auger-Aliassime disagreed with, but understood.
“You’ve played enough that you know when you hit it, you know where it went,” Auger-Aliassime told his opponent.
Several tennis players chimed in on the incident, including the often outspoken Nick Kyrgios, agreed that Draper knew what he had done.
Mate. Horrible call, but every player knows you know exactly where you hit it hahaha ridiculous stuff
ā Nicholas Kyrgios (@NickKyrgios) August 17, 2024
Others, including fellow Canadians Denis Shapovalov and Vasek Pospisil, were quite frustrated with the ruling.
šŖ š¤”
— Denis Shapovalov (@denis_shapo) August 17, 2024
This is pretty horrendous on so many levels.. but I have to say, not sure how many players would have handled this situation with such class. So impressive from Felix. Gotta feel for him https://t.co/i0HaIthTMu
— Vasek Pospisil (@VasekPospisil) August 17, 2024
Oh my! š«£ pic.twitter.com/FazKHlOKY9
— Stefanos Tsitsipas (@steftsitsipas) August 17, 2024
Tennis doesn’t allow for a video review on anything other than line challenge calls, though debate sparked up online following this incident on whether or not that should change.
While Auger-Aliassime made it clear to the chair ump that he would feel “Ridiculous” once he saw a replay, the 24-year-old handled the entire situation with plenty of class, even shaking Draper’s hand before the two left the court.
It was an even more frustrating loss for Auger-Aliassime, given the major high he was coming off of earlier in the day, having knocked off world No. 5 Casper Ruud in straight sets. That win had come just two weeks after he was able to defeat Ruud at the Paris 2024 Olympics, where he wound up narrowly missing out on a medal with a fourth-placed finish.
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