2024-08-26 13:58:17
NEW YORK | Jack Draper, more than a week later, admitted that this controversial match point against Félix Auger-Aliassime in the quarterfinals in Cincinnati should have been replayed. But he continues: on the pitch, Wales had no idea, and he found out what really happened when he saw the video replay.
“I would 100% have replayed the point,” Draper told the BBC.
The controversy over whether the British finally won this match caused a stir in the world of tennis on Friday 16 August and in the days that followed. Until it was overshadowed by the two failed doping controls by world number 1 Jannik Sinner, for which the Italian was cleared.
On match point in their quarterfinal match in Cincinnati, the ball hit by Draper, a 22-year-old Briton, hit the frame of his racket before hitting the ground on his side of the court, and then landed on the side of the Auger-Aliasime net.
The video replay shows it: the point should not have been good. But in real time, referee Greg Allensworth saw nothing. And during a discussion on the net that lasted several minutes with Félix, the 25th person in the world pleaded that he too did not see what happened, and that he depended on the official’s decision.
“But at the time, I didn’t know what happened,” Draper repeated.
Right here in New York
This story drew attention to an even bigger issue in tennis: the fact that referees don’t have access to video replays to double-check what’s happening inside the lines.
For balls that end up close to the lines, they can rely on automatic “hawk eye” or computer calls, depending on the contest.
In fact, this video replay of what happens inside the lines is only available in one tournament, and that’s here, at the US Open. It has been available since last year and will be available on more sites this year. But it is the players who must ask for a review.
“Do you think I’m making up a story?”
In an interview with The JournalOn Friday, Félix returned to the controversy (read here), whose calm, with the referee and the Draper, was almost universally praised.
But he admitted that he was disappointed with the outcome of the events. “I wasn’t happy to find out I was the only one [sur le terrain] to see what I had seen, explained the 19th seed in New York. I was like, “What, nobody saw anything? What do you think, that I’m making up a story, that I’m trying to cheat?”
The Draper was the target of much criticism after this match, which questioned his part fair playincluding some comments from other players on the circuit.
He told the BBC he had “difficult times”. “This is the first time my integrity as an athlete has been questioned.”
The young player also praised the Quebecer. “I think he handled it with great maturity and a lot of class,” praised the Briton.
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