Dimitrov on Barcelona incident with Carreno Busta: “I’ll remember this”

The quarterfinal contest between Grigor Dimitrov and Pablo Carreno Busta at the Barcelona Open Banc Sabadell took an unexpected and heated turn with the world No. 5 serving at 2-4 in the second-set tiebreaker.

Dimitrov struck a first serve that looked like it may have been long, to which Carreno Busta replied with a weak backhand return. As Dimitrov approached the net to hit what should have been a routine forehand volley, the Spaniard appeared to stop playing–as if he thought the serve was out or simply assumed that his opponent would hit an easy winner on the next shot.

Dimitrov promptly netted his swinging volley, after which he protested that Carreno Busta had stopped the point.

Chair umpire Carlos Bernardes awarded the point to Carreno Busta–correctly so, given that there had been no official stoppage of play–and the incident appeared to be finished. But it escalated at the handshake following Carreno Busta’s 6-3, 7-6(4) victory.

Dimitrov told the world No. 11 that “as a man” he should have admitted to stopping the point. “I will remember this,” the Bulgarian declared. When Carreno Busta tried to explain his side of things, Dimitrov quipped, “Don’t talk to me.”

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17 Comments on Dimitrov on Barcelona incident with Carreno Busta: “I’ll remember this”

  1. To me, it looks like RBA pulls up and stops playing the point as Dimi says.

    Doesn’t matter why. RBA stopped the point.

    On a somewhat related note, TWICE last week in Barcelona, Dimi overturned the umpire’s out call on serves costing him points he would have won – one against Goffin and one against Rafa.

    ZERO credit or news stories about it.

    Federer, OTOH, serves a ball wide called in, and calls it out when his opponent is about to challenge ONLY to keep his rhythm on his second serve because he knows he’ll lose the challenge and it’s all over the news.

    Hilarious.

      • He DID come down in the Goffin match and called it out. Dimi overruled and the point was replayed.

        Do you even watch tennis? Or just follow twitter.

      • And in the match against Rafa, Rafa’s serve was called out.

        Rafa called for the umpire to come down and check the mark but the umpire picked the wrong mark and withheld his out call.

        Dimi overturned agreeing with Rafa and the point was replayed.

        Hawkeye replay showed that the serve was on the line.

  2. What a bitch Dimi is. Still nowhere near the level of big 4 or even what the gatekeepers like Ferrer and Berych were. I don’t recall seeing those guys looking to blame losses on a single point they should have won. Wonder if Kygrios and Dimi are pals, both have same fondness for logical fallacies.

    • ad rock,

      I agree with you. It was very petty of him to start an argument once the match ended and they met at net.

      It was one point. Deal with it!

  3. First time I’ve seen this. Unusual that PCB lowered his racquet and appeared to stop playing -looks like something Kyrgios or Monfils would do. But he never actually stopped the point and there’s no good reason for Dimitrov to think he did. So it was the right call.

    Btw, the swinging volley wasn’t that easy. Almost always a higher percentage shot to punch the volley rather than swing at it.

  4. Dtrov IS a good sport…almost always, but I think he has nothing to protest about in this case. He lost the point, period.

  5. Everyone has a bad day. This wasnt one of Dimitrov’s best and understandably, his form hasnt been at a level we saw in 2017.

    However, It doesnt look good when you attack someone like PCB that just goes about his business.

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