Following the end of the Miami Masters 1000, the tennis circuit immediately began the tour of slow courts. The first step, this week, does not have venues in Europe: a tournament is played in Houston; the other, in Marrakech, in Morocco. And it was precisely in the American brick dust where a strong controversy was generated.
In the second round of qualifying to try to get into the main draw, the Canadian Steven Ten31 years old and 292nd in the ranking, was one point away from victory and passing qualifying: dominated by 6-4, 5-4 and advantage with break-point. His rival, the Dutch Gijs Brouwer, looked for an open serve, which Diez answered with a down the line return that found his opponent trying to get to the net; an accurate passing. “Game, set and match” (game, set and match), was heard at the same time that Diez raised his arms to celebrate and headed to greet the net.
However, and although it may seem incredible, the match did not end there. Because, on the other side, Brouwer went to the net to point out the mark left by his last serve, which could possibly have been ‘wide’. And the chair umpire Amir Borghei decided to go down to observe the mark. The match seemed to be over… But the umpire decided fix the bugpointing out that the serve had been bad, understood that Brouwer did not want to play that point -despite the fact that he was seen to move quickly-, and that he had to play it again.
Ten, who already had the ticket to the main draw in his pocket, couldn’t fathom the situation. To top, the umpire marked another pique, several centimeters away from the one that corresponded. And beyond the discussions, she had to continue the meeting. And he passed what was to be expected in this type of situation: disconcerted and unfocused at the same time, lost. Brouwer won 4-6, 7-5, 6-2.
A while later, Diez uploaded his download to his social networks. And he wrote: “Hello everyone. First of all, before you guys read this, I want to make it clear that I have nothing against the chair umpire, I believe and really hope that he did his best in my match. But something happened to me that is very difficult to describe in words.”
“In addition to the ATP Cup, this last year and a half has been very difficult for me, with personal problems, injuries and, to be honest, not playing my best tennis. In these last few weeks I honestly started to play a little better, but suddenly this happens to me… In the video you can see how I won the match with a passing ball that my opponent is clearly trying to reach, and even turns his head to see the ball go by. After celebrating and when I was about to shake my opponent’s hand, the chair umpire decided to check the mark when the match was clearly over and it was too late to mark the ball. That was his first big mistake.
“The second mistake is that he marks a ball that is literally one meter from the actual mark. Third error: he asks the line judge if he sees the mark? The linesman clearly points to the right one, and despite that he gets the wrong mark from him. Fourth mistake: he tells me that my opponent didn’t want to serve and volley and that he didn’t want to play the point; basically, that he stopped the point after serving. And the fifth error, and the most important: the chair umpire says ‘game, set and match’.
“Where do I want to go with this? Because many times we do not see an umpire pay for his mistakes, and on the other hand, when a tennis player does not do his job well, he takes a flight back home with zero points and less money in his pockets .
“Today, after having suffered the greatest infamy of my entire life, some justice was done. Call it God, Karma, or whatever. I was able to enter as a lucky loser and I will play again on Tuesday. But this is something that can happen to any player. The ATP has to review if some umpires have the level to lead their tournaments, or even a Challenger”, he concluded. Indeed: due to the loss of the Spanish Jaume Munar, Ten entered the main draw as a lucky loserand will play Australian Jordan Thompson.
Later, in statements to the Punto de Break site, Diez highlighted: “I don’t remember such an outrage. If this happens in a Grand Slam or with the wrong player, be it a Nadal, Djokovic, Federer or a Kyrgios, I assure you it will be on all the news in the world. It is a real barbarity that, in addition, coincides with a match point (…) This man yesterday made several errors in a row at the same point. When arrive [a hablar con el supervisor] They had already reviewed the videos, and they told me that I was absolutely right, that the only thing I could do was file an internal complaint explaining what had happened, with my signature and that of the supervisor. They agreed with me, but that doesn’t feed me.”
