The future of arguing a referee's call is upon us. On Monday, a tennis player used an iPhone to take a picture of where his ball supposedly landed.
At the French Open, Ukrainian tennis player Sergiy Stakhovsky surprised the crowd with his impromptu display of photography skills during the first set of a match against Richard Gasquet. At one point in the game, Stakhovsky hit the ball and a line judge ruled the shot as out of bounds. To make sure, officials went to the line to examine where the ball hit and confirmed the ruling. Stakhovsky attempted to argue the call to no avail.
The match continued, and when the players switched sides, Stakhovsky collected his iPhone from the bench and captured a shot of the marking caused by where the disputed ball landed. The crowd jeered in response, and an official handed the picture-happy tennis player a violation for unsportsmanlike conduct.
The officials never reversed the call, Stakhovsky lost the outing, and it seems likely that he'll pay a fine for his behavior on the court. Game over.
I'm no forensic expert, nor a master interpreter of smudges, but Stakhovsky plans on showing the photo to French Open tournament directors, which seems pointless. What do you think they'll say? He also tweeted the photo for the world to see.
Well..here what you asked for ... twitter.com/Stako_tennis/s...
— Sergiy Stakhovsky (@Stako_tennis) May 27, 2013
(Via Hard OCP)
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