America’s Alison Riske-Amritraj has explained exactly what went down in her dramatic doubles blow-up against a chair umpire on Friday.
Riske-Amritraj hit a ball into the body of an opponent and apologised after the point, but umpire Nico Helwert bizarrely called a point penalty against her for hindrance (talking during the point).
Any replay would’ve shown Helwert was incorrect but he maintained his stance leaving Riske-Amritraj fuming.
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“What the hell is he doing up there then? That’s f***ing ridiculous,” said Riske-Amritraj.
“No, no, that’s ridiculous. Is he sleeping? Dude. I wouldn’t say sorry [before the point is complete].
“It hit her so I said sorry. So it’s my point.”
The supervisor replied: “He’s seen it differently and it’s the umpire’s job to see it.”
Riske-Amritaj then sarcastically said: “That makes no sense. Dude. Oh, the way you see it? The way you see it? I’m sure you see it that way.“That’s ridiculous. That’s absolutely ridiculous. Pay attention. Dude, that’s tennis 101.”
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On Saturday she responded to a tweet about the issue, blaming the opposing player.
“She should have called it on herself & the umpire apologised for his incorrect ruling after, which I accepted,” she said.
“Poor sportsmanship and cheating happens all the time, especially at the junior level. Parents/players spend too much time, money & mental energy for that experience.
“As you can tell, I am extremely passionate about helping tennis’ future here. If you’re working on a compelling piece of line calling or VAR tech and need help funding/scaling please DM me.”
