There were devastating scenes at Wimbledon on Wednesday afternoon as Alejandro Davidovich Fokina suffered a controversial exit at the hands of Jiri Vesely.
Facing match point in the final set tiebreaker at the end of a marathon contest, Davidovich Fokina lost his cool and hit a ball out of the court, then was penalized a point by umpire Carlos Ramos to lose the tiebreaker and the match — 6-3, 5-7, 6-7, 6-3, 7-6.
“I don’t agree with it. That’s crazy… what a lousy way to end it,” John McEnroe said on ESPN’s broadcast.
Davidovich Fokina was losing the tiebreaker 9-7 and facing two match points at the time, still, the back-and-forth matchup felt far from decided.
Davidovich Fokina had earlier received a code violation for an audible obscenity. According to tennis reporter Ben Rothenberg, the Spaniard thought because swatting a ball away was a different offense, the two misdemeanors were not “cumulative.”
However, that’s not how the chair umpire saw it, and because of the earlier violation, Ramos issued a point penalty that cost Davidovich Fokina the match. Davidovich Fokina briefly spoke with Ramos but did not offer a huge argument.
Tennis commentators were stunned. An image of a dejected Davidovich Fokina still sitting in his seat after the match had ended, when his opponent had left the court, summed up the mood.
Vesely will take on 30th-seeded American Tommy Paul in the third round on Friday.