Nadal thought chair umpire Fergus Murphy made a mistake in not allowing him to challenge one ball.
Rafael Nadal clashed with chair umpire Fergus Murphy early in the match against Alex de Minaur as the Spaniard felt the chair umpire made a big mistake in not granting him a challenge in one of the key points.
After breaking 10th-seeded de Minaur for an early 2-0 lead, Nadal was facing a 15-30 on his service game when the Australian’s ball appeared to be wide. Nadal stopped and looked at the spot but Murphy didn’t stop the point and de Minaur continued playing. After de Minaur hit a shot that was out of Nadal’s reach, the Spaniard again started pointing at the spot but Murphy reacted by calling a 15-40 score.
On TV, it was shown that de Minaur’s ball was indeed out.
That’s when Nadal lost it and started airing his annoyance and frustration over not being allowed to challenge.
After Nadal made it clear he was annoyed with Murphy, the chair umpire defended himself: “I did not see you making any challenge. You didn’t say anything. You have to use the system.”
But Nadal wasn’t buying it, bluntly telling Murphy: “I just stopped. I have to say challenge? Is that new?”
“What are we doing here?”
Drama as Nadal FUMES at ball not being called out 😡 pic.twitter.com/hvMDbMMU3s
— Sky Sports Tennis (@SkySportsTennis) April 27, 2024
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