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Francisco Cerundolo of Argentina was upset after losing a 5th-set tiebreaker against Holger Rune of Denmark in the fourth round of the French Open on Monday. He was also furious with chair umpire Kader Nouni for missing a double-bounce of the ball on a point awarded to Rune early in his 7-6 (3), 3-6, 6-4, 1-6, 7-6 (10-7) win.
In the third set on serve for the No. 6-seeded Rune at Court Suzanne Lenglen, they were tied in one set apiece when the tense moment came. At deuce and serving, Cerundolo hit a forehand that slipped low along the baseline and soon rebounded a second time, indicating that he had won the game.
Cerundolo, the No. 23 seed, was also saying “sorry” at the same time to apologise for the odd manner his forehand made the ball to skim across the clay. Nouni was unaware of the double-bounce and felt the ball was still in play, so he called Cerundolo for hindrance for talking during a point. That meant Rune got the point and when he won the following one, he had a service break.
“It was unbelievable, because it was a clear double-bounce. I was mad at the umpire because he has to see it,” Cerundolo said. “It’s his fault.”
Many tournaments use electronic line-calling to make line calls, but replays are not used to evaluate things like double-bounces or whether a point should be lost because a player touches the net, which is not permitted.
Cerundolo criticised the referee, but he also believed Rune may have conceded the point due to the double-bounce.
“For sure, I wish he would have done that, because it was a big moment,” Cerundolo said.
