Novak Djokovic slams ’embarrassing’ lack of video replays
Novak Djokovic has voiced his opinions on the controversy at the Cincinnati Masters, with the 24-time major winner claiming that this can ‘never happen again’.
Djokovic elected to miss defending his Cincinnati title this week, with the Serbian next playing at the US Open following his Olympic gold medal victory.
Despite his absence from the tournament, it appears that the 37-year-old is still aware of the ongoings at the Masters 1000 event and has seen the incident between Jack Draper and Felix Auger-Aliassime that took place on Friday.
On match point, Draper appeared to hit the ball into the ground before it found its way onto the other side of the net, with the umpire unable to spot this and awarding the Brit the point and consequently the match.
This was met with lots of understandable frustration from Auger-Aliassime, who described the situation as ‘horrendous’ and was offered lots of support from fellow players after the match.
And now Djokovic has weighed in on the incident, calling for video replays to be introduced to the tours in a post on social media, “It’s embarrassing that we don’t have video replay of these kind of situations on the court. 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!
“Everyone who watches TV sees what happened on the replay, yet the players on the court are kept in “dark” not knowing what’s the outcome. We have Hawkeye for line calls, we live in the technologically advanced 21st century! Please respective Tours, make sure this nonsense never happens again!”
It’s embarrassing that we don’t have video replay of these kind of situations on the court. 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!… https://t.co/MQsmqpTmXK
— Novak Djokovic (@DjokerNole) August 17, 2024
While video replays are not available in Cincinnati, they will be part of the upcoming US Open on eight of the bigger courts.
Djokovic will make his return to action at the New York major, as he looks to defend his title in a bid for a historic 25th Grand Slam title.
Inside the baseline…
This issue has caught a lot of attention over the past couple of days, potentially as umpire Greg Allensworth has been involved in a few controversial on-court moments in recent weeks. It is very easy to blame the people involved, but these incidents are very difficult to spot in the moment. Like Novak Djokovic has said a video replay would solve everything and enable less unnecessary criticism towards umpires and players involved.
READ NEXT: Nick Kyrgios reacts to ‘horrible call’ in Cincinnati Masters controversy
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