Novak Djokovic has advocated for the introduction of video reviews in tennis following a controversial incident during Jack Draper’s match at the Cincinnati Open, which has sparked broader discussions about the use of replays in the sport.
Draper, the British No. 1, secured a hard-fought victory over Canada’s Félix Auger-Aliassime, winning 5-7, 6-4, 6-4 to advance to the quarter-finals. However, the match ended in controversy when Auger-Aliassime disputed Draper’s match-winning volley, claiming it had bounced into the ground before crossing the net. Umpire Greg Allensworth was unable to review the point as no replay system was available, ultimately awarding the point and match to Draper.
Despite the on-court intervention of the match supervisor, the decision stood since replays were not accessible, and Draper maintained that he hadn’t seen the incident and was unwilling to replay the point. Stefanos Tsitsipas responded to the incident with a tweet, showing the replay of the incident.
Djokovic would respond to Tsitsipas and said it was embarrassing not to have video replays for such situations and labelled it ridiculous that the umpires cannot change the original call based on the review.
“It’s embarrassing that we don’t have video replay of these kind of situations on the court,” he wrote. “What’s even more ridiculous is that we don’t have the rule in place that would allow chair umpires to change the original call based on the video review that happens off the court!”
We live in the technologically advanced 21st century!
Djokovic urged the respective tours to ensure such an incident doesn’t happen in the future and use technology.
“Everyone who watches TV sees what happened on the replay, yet the players on the court are kept in [the] ‘dark’ not knowing what’s the outcome. We have Hawk-Eye for line calls, we live in the technologically advanced 21st century! Please respective Tours, make sure this nonsense never happens again!” said Djokovic.
The Serbian is gearing up to be ready for the US Open next.
Source Agencies
