World No.2 Alexander Zverev believes its “ridiculous” that let calls at the Australian Open are subject to a chair umpire’s call, instead of available technology.
Reaching the Australian Open semi-finals for a third time in five years after a quarter-final win over American Tommy Paul 7-6 (7-1), 7-6 (7-0), 2-6, 6-1, the top German has questioned why let calls at Melbourne Park are left to the human eye.
Paul, had a costly let missed by chair umpire Nacho Forcadell at a decisive moment during their first set tie-breaker.
Zverev’s offensive play earned him a hard-fought quarter-final victory.Credit: Penny Stephens
Zverev was leading 4-1 in the tie-breaker and playing with the momentum when the let was missed. After a brief rally, Paul lost the point before approaching the match official.
“To be honest, the point that Tommy Paul complained about, it was an incredibly clear let,” said Zverev after his victory.
“I think it’s, to be honest, quite ridiculous. Every single corner of everything has a camera. We have video review and all the high-end technologies that we can possibly have.
“But a simple let machine that we’ve been using for the past 25 years is not available at a grand slam.”
Paul acknowledged his frustration, but he was more concerned about winning only one point in two tie-breakers, putting Zverev on the road to victory.
“I mean, I was already down, like, 4-1 in the breaker. I think maybe double mini-break,” said the world No.11.
“I hit a serve, and it was a let, but the chair didn’t see it. I just didn’t know that there was no automatic – what’s it called – let machine here.
“It is what it is. That didn’t lose me the match or anything.”
Paul, who reached the semis in Melbourne two years ago, lamented his high error count in the four-set defeat. There were 56 unforced errors on Paul’s racquet, while Zverev committed 36.
“My unforced error count was just too high today,” said the 27-year-old Paul.
“I was looking at it. They had all the stats during the match up on the screen. I looked up and saw, like, 40-something unforced errors after, like, two sets or two and a half sets.
“You can’t have that when you’re playing guys who are No.2 in the world at slams.”
Zverev knew he’d dodged a bullet by getting past Paul, who was found wanting at vital moments.
“I feel like I stole both of those sets in a way, because he was playing better than me and he was serving for both of those sets,” said the German.
“In the tie-break I played quite well. He maybe missed a little bit more than he should have. Yeah, I’m happy that I won in four sets because this was a difficult one.”
It was a match where the margins were wafer-thin. It took close to three-and-a-half hours for the world No.2 to overcome Paul, even though Zverev raced to a 5-0 advantage in the fourth set before Paul rallied late.
The German summed up his fortunes immediately afterwards.
Asked how he pulled out the win, Zverev said: “I don’t know, myself, to be honest.”
It’s not an understatement to say that Zverev has flown under the radar in reaching the pointy end at another major.
Tuesday’s contest against Paul on centre court was his first day match across 10 days at Melbourne Park. The 27-year-old has only dropped two sets en route to a showdown against either Novak Djokovic or Tommy Paul. Make no mistake, he won’t be hiding in the shadows in his next contest.
Zverev conceded he’s pleasantly surprised to be in the final four. Pre-tournament, last year’s Roland-Garros finalist admitted he wasn’t sure how he’d fare as he battled an injury and pulled out of the United Cup teams event ahead of Germany’s quarter-final.
“I was very uncertain coming into this tournament, I had an arm injury,” Zverev said on court.
“I didn’t have the preparation that I wanted.”
Zverev admitted that day timeslots aren’t his preference. “I absolutely love playing night matches here. I really do. I don’t know why. I feel the ball better on my racquet,” he said.
Australian Open organisers were contacted for comment.
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