[alypen]

On Murray's serve at 4-4, first set, he was down 0-30, and hit a cross-court shot which landed to the outside of the sideline. Del Potro immediately raised his hand to challenge, and may have verbalised it too, although the noise level may have blotted that out. Pascal Maria somehow didn't spot the challenge, and by the time Delpo tackled him about it he was told it was too late to challenge - despite the fact that he had challenged instantly.

I suppose we must all be working off the same pictures from the Olympic Broadcaster, but I wondered whether anyone had a clearer view of where the ball landed than I did on my TV? As there were no replays I can't tell whether the ball was indeed out or not on my small, non-HD screen. I counted the scores after that as if Delpo's challenge had been successful, i.e. Murray going down 0-40, and unless I got it wrong I make it that Delpo would have taken the first set 6-4, which might have made a significant difference to the match.

Could anyone see whether or not the ball in question was actually out? (And maybe the tennis authorities should amend the guidance on Hawkeye challenges to advise players to keep their hand up until the umpire has definitely spotted it!)

 

[OldSilentHill]

Del Potro result was clearly affected by the empires and judges desitions.

Sunday was a sad day for tennis.

 

[MIMIC]

James Blake (commentating for American audiences) said that the umpire didn't allow the challenge because del Potro played the shot. But del Potro immediately hit it into the net and couldn't get ready to "play the shot" so I'm not so sure. My guess was that the umpire just didn't see him challenge.

 

[JMG]

He hit a fh into the net, then challenged. They usually allow to challenge, but it was probably within the rules not to allow it.

I thought the ball looked in.

 

[Method Man]

Pascal Maria is the worst umpire in tennis. He made some crappy decisions that affected both players.

 

[BodyServe]

I hope it wasn't Pascal Maria that allowed Murray to challenge a ball after Karlovic had put the volley away last year at Wimbledon.

 

[redshift]

Not allowing late challenges is the worst rule in tennis.

Players are allowed 3 incorrect challenges per set, it cannot be abused for time wasting, so what difference does it make? If the player is incorrect he automatically loses the point.

How absurd is it that tennis authorities do not understand that often the player's reaction is to play the shot and only then after thinking about it, naturally decides to challenge?

 

[alypen]

I've just managed to take another look at the recording: the BBC TV commentators are clear that Pascal Maria didn't spot the challenge - I can't tell from my screen because I can't see him, and I can't hear what he's saying. If, on the other hand, he's disallowing it because Delpo hit the ball, that's a completely different matter, but none of the commentators even give this a second's thought.

I agree that it's really unrealistic to expect someone, in the split second between the ball bouncing and him hitting it, to snatch his racquet out of the way so as to avoid hitting it before he can challenge.

 

[OldSilentHill]

I've just managed to take another look at the recording: the BBC TV commentators are clear that Pascal Maria didn't spot the challenge - I can't tell from my screen because I can't see him, and I can't hear what he's saying. If, on the other hand, he's disallowing it because Delpo hit the ball, that's a completely different matter, but none of the commentators even give this a second's thought.

I agree that it's really unrealistic to expect someone, in the split second between the ball bouncing and him hitting it, to snatch his racquet out of the way so as to avoid hitting it before he can challenge.

Clearly