On Wednesday, Swedish tennis player Mikael Ymer was removed from the Lyon Open for breaking his racket against the umpire’s chair.
Ymer asked umpire Rogerio Santos to inspect a ball mark on the clay during his round of 16 match against France’s Arthur Fils. This request led to the incident.
Santos claimed to have witnessed the ball bouncing on the line and thus did not feel the need to check for a mark on the court, as is often done by umpires on clay surfaces. However, Ymer was insistent that the ball had gone out.
In Rome, Italy on May 21, 2023, Daniil Medvedev used his serve to win the Men’s Singles Final match against Holger Rune of Denmark on Day Fourteen of the Internazionali BNL D’Italia at Foro Italico. According to Medvedev, his recent success in winning his first clay title at the Italian Open can be attributed to his use of new strings. (Photo by Alex Pantling/Getty Images) Alex Pantling/Getty Images
“I have never seen a referee refuse to go down and check the mark,” Ymer stated to Santos. “Why aren’t you checking the mark I’m giving you?”
Fils then broke Ymer’s serve the following point to go 6-5 ahead, after which the world No. 53 smashed his racket twice into the umpire’s chair, breaking the racket head clean away from the handle on his second swipe.
The tournament official informed Ymer that he was disqualified. The 24-year-old then went over to congratulate Fils, who will be playing against top seed Félix Auger Aliassime in the following round.
Last year, there was a comparable situation involving German player Alexander Zverev at the Mexican Open.
Zverev received a suspended eight-week suspension and was fined $25,000 for continuously striking the umpire’s chair with his racket during a doubles match in the first round.
When the incident occurred, he was removed from the singles tournament and penalized with a $40,000 fine. He was also required to give up the $31,570 in prize money he had earned and all of his ATP Rankings points from the event.
CNN has reached out to the ATP Tour for comment on Ymer’s removal from the Lyon Open.
Reporting was aided by Issy Ronald of CNN.
Source: cnn.com
