Fuming Over a Questionable Call: German Tennis Player Takes Aim at Wimbledon Officials
Tennis player from Germany expresses intense disappointment over what she deems as the "poorest career choice."
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Tennis player Tamara Korpatsch, gunning for a spot in the Wimbledon main draw, faces a bitter disappointment courtesy of an controversial umpiring decision. It all boils down to a net post, with Korpatsch expressing outrage and frustration.
Initially, Korpatsch seemed set for success. Crushing her Slovakian opponent Renata Jamrichova ranked 328th in the world, Korpatsch stormed through the first set 6:1 in just 26 minutes during the Wimbledon qualifier. However, her hopes for victory were short-lived due to a contentious umpiring error.
In the second set, Korpatsch broke Jamrichova to take a 3:2 lead only to give it back and lose the set 5:7. The decisive third set was nothing short of a shock. At 2:2, Korpatsch executed a two-handed backhand returning a serve from Jamrichova, sending the ball onto the net post. The umpire immediately stopped play, calling the return a fault, much to Korpatsch's disbelief.
Being a qualifying match played on a doubles court, it's standard practice to use two single net posts to secure the net, unlike the widely spaced doubles posts. However, the umpire's error came from the misinterpretation that the ball hit a double post rather than the intended single post. Instead of 30:30, it was 40:15, and Jamrichova went on to win the game and hold her serve.
Korpatsch Seethes: "That's Bunco!"
"This is the most galling decision I've ever known," Korpatsch wrote on Instagram. "This transpired at Wimbledon, the most prestigious and influential tournament in the world, not some amateur tournament," she lamented her disappointment.
On the court, Korpatsch directly approached the umpire, with Jamrichova also expressing bewilderment. The ball hit the outer post, "not the single post," the chair umpire corrected her mistake. The baffled German couldn't fathom it and pointed towards the single post, "It hit here."
"No, no, no," Korpatsch protested, with the umpire persisting with her incorrect call. Korpatsch questioned the physics of the bouncing ball, "It's illogical for the ball to come back like that. That's algebra. Look at the footage. That's impossible." She carried on, "everybody" could see the error before finally shouting across the court, "I'm fed up with grass." Korpatsch also expressed her frustration off the court through an Instagram story, declaring, "I'm done with grass."
Source: ntv.de, dbe
- Tennis
- Wimbledon
Enrichment Data:-In tennis, when a singles match is played on a doubles court, the net is attached to the singles net posts, which are 3 feet (0.914 meters) inside the doubles sidelines providing the correct net width of 27 feet (8.23 meters).-The net height remains the same (3 feet at the center) and the net is stretched between the singles posts during singles matches.-The doubles net posts, which are wider apart at 42 feet (12.8 meters), are not used to support the net during singles matches, even if the doubles court lines are used as boundaries.
This rule ensures fairness and consistency in the net dimension for singles play, preventing the net from being wider and looser than intended if attached to the doubles posts. At Wimbledon 2021, if a singles match was played on a doubles court, the net would follow the standard ITF tennis regulations.
- Despite excelling in the first set, tennis player Tamara Korpatsch faced a disappointing loss at Wimbledon due to a controversial decision by the umpire regarding a ball hit on the tennis court.
- The umpire's error in the third set of Korpatsch's Wimbledon qualifier match caused a stir, as the ball was believed to have hit the intended single net post, not the doubles post, according to Korpatsch.
