Latest / Bleacher Report / Should Lorenzo Musetti Have Been Defaulted for Hitting a Line Judge _ 2025 Roland-Garros

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Should Lorenzo Musetti Have Been Defaulted for Hitting a Line Judge _ 2025 Roland-Garros · Bleacher Report

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Was that moment though that you pointed out was SETI
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: kicking the ball hitting the line judge. And when we
• 0:06
  Speaker 1: were in the back we talked about defaults. We talked
• 0:09
  Speaker 1: with Tim Headman who experienced that at Wimbledon, and we
• 0:12
  Speaker 1: sat there and we went, wait, nothing is called, whether
• 0:16
  Speaker 1: it's a default or a penalty or nothing was called.
• 0:19
  Speaker 1: After the match, Tiafo was asked about this and this
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  Speaker 1: press conference. He talked about the match, but also how
• 0:25
  Speaker 1: do we leave with no nothing and no results.
• 0:29
  Speaker 2: It's tough conditions today, no question about it. I think
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  Speaker 2: ultimately he just, uh, he was. He was more willing
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  Speaker 2: to kind of his hanging there, hanging tough. A lot
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  Speaker 2: of junk shots today, he was. He defended incredible with
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  Speaker 2: some high balls that always landed in. Never could go
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  Speaker 2: just out. But yeah, he was just tougher and in
• 0:49
  Speaker 2: the in the winning ugly department because it wasn't going
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  Speaker 2: to be clean from either of us. It was. It
• 0:53
  Speaker 2: was really really windy and tough conditions, and he just
• 0:57
  Speaker 2: he was he was more willing to do that to
• 1:00
  Speaker 2: than I was. Yeah, I mean obviously he did that,
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  Speaker 2: nothing happened. I think that's I think that's comic. Coal.
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  Speaker 2: But it is what it is. Nothing happened, so it's
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  Speaker 2: nothing we're ready to talk about.
• 1:17
  Speaker 1: So they it sounds like it's because there was no
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  Speaker 1: malicious or tent or anger that they went that way.
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  Speaker 3: It still happened, though I would love to to dive
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  Speaker 3: deep into This is a delicate situation.
• 1:29
  Speaker 4: Now. You don't want to go into this match. It's
• 1:32
  Speaker 4: a huge moment quarterfinals. You don't want to default anyone.
• 1:35
  Speaker 3: You see the kick to me, that's an anger you see.
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  Speaker 3: You're not kicking a ball for fun out here especially.
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  Speaker 3: I understand that it was an accident. You did not
• 1:44
  Speaker 3: mean to hit the umpire, and I'm sure that Mussetti
• 1:47
  Speaker 3: was fully sorry about the situation that he was in.
• 1:50
  Speaker 3: But in the delicate sense, the moment that it is
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  Speaker 3: not in a moment where the umpire is not injured,
• 1:58
  Speaker 3: that's when we're all going to jump arms. We need
• 2:00
  Speaker 3: to stop this before that happens. And I think we
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  Speaker 3: can look at other sports. You pop a ball to
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  Speaker 3: a referee in basketball, you're getting ejected. You mishandle a
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  Speaker 3: pass and put hands on a ref in football, you're
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  Speaker 3: getting ejected. There is a steep line whether or not
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  Speaker 3: you mentioned in a malicious way or in an accidental
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  Speaker 3: way of you do not touch an umpire, and I
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  Speaker 3: think that needs to evolve into tennis very quickly. And
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  Speaker 3: I understand that this one was let slide. We had
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  Speaker 3: the Novak Djokovic where he hit the ball backwards. Yes,
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  Speaker 3: it was with the racket, so it came off with
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  Speaker 3: a little bit more force. To me, there is no
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  Speaker 3: line that we need to toe. It is either you
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  Speaker 3: touched an umpire or you didn't touch an umpire, plain
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  Speaker 3: and simple, on accident or on purpose. Because a second
• 2:47
  Speaker 3: it goes bad, it's going to go really bad. And
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  Speaker 3: I think that's what tennis needs to prevent and follow
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  Speaker 3: what the other sports do.
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  Speaker 4: You put hands on.
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  Speaker 3: An umpire, the ball hits an umpire on your purposeful
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  Speaker 3: act or accidental.
• 2:58
  Speaker 4: Act, you are a ject. It is a default.
• 3:01
  Speaker 3: Of course, we don't want to see it as tennis fans,
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  Speaker 3: but you are pros. Behave like pros. And I am
• 3:06
  Speaker 3: yes calling cattle. The pot is calling kettle black right
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  Speaker 3: here for sure.
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  Speaker 5: Let me argue that though if I'm passing you a
• 3:13
  Speaker 5: ball in basketball and left goes the rep and accidentally
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  Speaker 5: hits him, I shouldn't be thrown out. If I watched
• 3:17
  Speaker 5: that kick there, if you watch it in slow motion,
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  Speaker 5: HU said he the ball kind of hit his ankle
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  Speaker 5: then his foot. In my opinion, it was an accident.
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  Speaker 5: It wasn't malicious. So in that case, look at this
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  Speaker 5: watch he kicks it, it kind of hits a little
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  Speaker 5: high in his foot and rolls.
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  Speaker 4: Off, and that's an American for sure. I'm giving you
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  Speaker 4: the look. He's a great look.
• 3:36
  Speaker 5: He's probably a great soccer player, of great footballer, but
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  Speaker 5: he shanked that a little bit, and the last thing
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  Speaker 5: we want to see as a player get defaulted in
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  Speaker 5: a moment.
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  Speaker 4: Of course, that's.
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  Speaker 3: That's not a point I'm arguing it was an accent.
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  Speaker 3: I'm more arguing that the accident is always going to
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  Speaker 3: be there until it happens on purpose, and I think
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  Speaker 3: you prevent both.
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  Speaker 4: I think both should never happen.
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  Speaker 3: You shouldn't take a ball where it's even at risk
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  Speaker 3: of hitting a ball or boy an umpire somebody in
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  Speaker 3: the stands.
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  Speaker 4: That shouldn't even be.
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  Speaker 3: A risk out there, because the second that it happens
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  Speaker 3: to a degree that is too far, that's when we
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  Speaker 3: all pay the price. And that's something that nobody wants
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  Speaker 3: to see hands down.
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  Speaker 5: Yeah, I truly think every scenario is case by case.
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  Speaker 5: I don't I'm not like a black or white rule
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  Speaker 5: on this. If the ball hits the umpire, I think
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  Speaker 5: we need to look at every single one, and this one,
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  Speaker 5: to me was an accident. I'm happy with the with
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  Speaker 5: the no call, if that's what we want to call it.
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  Speaker 4: Pick a side.
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  Speaker 6: Oh god, I in this case, obviously, no one wants
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  Speaker 6: to be defaulted in a quarterfinals with a Grand Slam.
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  Speaker 6: That's just insane. I don't think that it was on purpose.
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  Speaker 4: I don't think.
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  Speaker 6: I don either malicious whatever, that was just dumb.
• 4:43
  Speaker 4: I would say.
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  Speaker 6: I do think that it's all happened to one of
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  Speaker 6: us where we'd like, hit a ball, did something stupid
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  Speaker 6: and almost hit someone or almost whatever. But I do
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  Speaker 6: think in tennis the last couple of years it has
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  Speaker 6: gotten out of control. So I don't know if that's
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  Speaker 6: defaulting everyone. I don't know if that's giving him a
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  Speaker 6: fine after the tournament that's twenty five grand so he
• 5:01
  Speaker 6: doesn't do it again.
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  Speaker 4: I don't know what that is.
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  Speaker 6: But there does need to be some sort of consequence
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  Speaker 6: to when these things are happening, because I think it
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  Speaker 6: just continues to happen and nothing is happening. And I
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  Speaker 6: think the no call today was just another reminder that
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  Speaker 6: you're not going to get in trouble, which I don't
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  Speaker 6: think is the right message to send.
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  Speaker 1: And I think amongst all that, I think Francis does
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  Speaker 1: have a right to be frustrated other absolutely a call
• 5:23
  Speaker 1: or not a call. And I think to add to that,
• 5:25
  Speaker 1: there was a number of calls in those matches where
• 5:27
  Speaker 1: he was arguing with calls ins and outs, and then
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  Speaker 1: we have the ability to see the replays and to
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  Speaker 1: see that he was actually right in those situations. I
• 5:35
  Speaker 1: think that added to that, in addition to the fact
• 5:38
  Speaker 1: that you get eliminated in the fashion which yeah.
• 5:39
  Speaker 4: He had that other call.
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  Speaker 5: A ball was called, two of them in that one
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  Speaker 5: of them, and the umpire came down overrule the ball
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  Speaker 5: that was out. Umpire came down ruled it was in.
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  Speaker 5: And if we went to the hawk that we could
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  Speaker 5: see on the TV they don't have here, they don't have,
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  Speaker 5: it was eleven millimeters out. Like I don't know how
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  Speaker 5: big that is. That's that's still a small margin, right,
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  Speaker 5: but not on the tennis core. That's that's clearly out,
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  Speaker 5: so they look they probably got to bring the electronic
• 6:01
  Speaker 5: line calling back. This is a major We can't have
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  Speaker 5: airs like that happening in quarterfinals.
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  Speaker 3: I'm just so sick and tired of umpires and including
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  Speaker 3: themselves in a situation that ruins the match.
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  Speaker 4: It ruins the flow of the match.
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  Speaker 3: Even because we were talking about Sloan when Matty Keys
• 6:16
  Speaker 3: was playing Hailey Baptiste, what a call can do of
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  Speaker 3: Hailey Baptist having set point or it's Maddie's ad and
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  Speaker 3: what that could change in a match. We could solve
• 6:26
  Speaker 3: that problem in a second of the technology we've been
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  Speaker 3: using all before this Grand Slam, and it's just because
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  Speaker 3: the stubbornness of an organization of not wanting to use it.
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  Speaker 3: And also it's always a money grab. Where's somebody getting
• 6:40
  Speaker 3: the bottom line. It's certainly not us as players. It's
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  Speaker 3: always the bottom line of the federations or whoever is
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  Speaker 3: signing the checks at the end of the day of
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  Speaker 3: if they're getting the extra penny, and I think that.
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  Speaker 4: Ruins the sport as a whole.
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  Speaker 1: It is, it's a frustrating moment. At the same time,
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  Speaker 1: Lorenzo Musseti was phenomenal and it was still a three
• 6:57
  Speaker 1: to one win. He deserves all the credit. He has
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  Speaker 1: been phenomenal here at Roland Garrison years past, and now
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  Speaker 1: he's trying to do something he's never done, which is
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  Speaker 1: get to a final.