Playing in his last U.S. Men’s Clay Court Championship before a scheduled retirement at the 2016 Australian Open, Lleyton Hewitt lost his first-round match to Go Soeda 4-6, 7-6(3), 6-3 on Tuesday.
After Hewitt squandered a match point on his own serve at 5-4, 30-40 in the second set, a controversial moment eventually arrived with the two-time major champion serving at 3-3, 15-0 in the third. His shot was called out and although no mark could be found, the call stood. Hewitt ended up losing four straight points to get broken and he did not win another game.
Controversial point:
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ltc1Yg0jzTI]
Marks have been lost on clay many times before, perhaps none more famously than when Rafael Nadal faced Robin Soderling at the 2009 Rome Masters. Soderling circled a mark several feet from the actual landing spot of the shot in question then went ballistic when the chair umpire could not show him the correct mark and rule Nadal’s shot to be good.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3CnX6k0snxA]
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Reblogged this on Tennis Abides and commented:
Interesting concept
That call from Soderling 🙂
Time puts everyone in their place
That video brings back some bad memories of Sod. He was a piece of work.
I think it might be a good idea to use hawkeye in clay matches. We have the technology and there are times when it’s so close that even the naked eye may not get it right.
I’ve never seen that vid before. Shocking. Blatant cheating and im glad it’s immortalised for generations to see!
I can think of no good reason not to use Hawkeye on clay. ‘Tradition’ or some similarly sentimentally driven reason is no reason at all. The simple fact is hawkeye is a more accurate and fair way of officiating matches on a clay court. And as we’ve seen from its use on other surfaces it’s introduction takes nothing away from the game or the umpires role.
Because players can look at clear marks they will still use it less than on other surfaces and clay will retain it’s individuality in that regard.
Actually that is not necessarily the case. As with any detection technology, they are not 100% accurate so there is a certain error tolerance whereas in the 99.999% of cases when the mark is obvious, there is very little doubt unlike grass and hard court where little mark is shown and the technology makes sense.
Not about tradition at all.
The next time these two played each other was the fateful ’09 Roland Garros 🙁
Yes, I was thinking about the terrible loss that Rafa would endure at the hands of Sod so soon after this match. To this day I have never watched that match in its entirety. It was too painful and the way the crowd was acting was so appalling.
The thing that gives me comfort is remembering how Rafa would get back at Sod by beating him in the final in the 2010 RG! That was a sweet win! He also got the better of him at Wimbledon. In fact, I don’t think Sod ever beat Rafa again!
He beat him at wtf 09
Is that you hawkeye? I forgot about that one.
While not a fan of Soderling, I still miss having him on the tour. He’s quite a character, and his strokes are good to watch. He surely has the potential to upset big guys and deservedly defeat Rafa that year.
I don’t miss Soderling one bit. Yes, he deserved to beat Rafa because he had reached that far in the championship and had to play with an injured player which is never easy.