“There is no bubble” – the call for Hawk-Eye is getting louder

Not only the nasty autumn weather and the special balls cause displeasure in Paris. The safety regulations due to the coronavirus pandemic are also criticized. In addition, the tennis professionals criticize the lack of opportunity to fall back on Hawk-Eye.

The French Open has been taking place under corona conditions since last weekend. The majority of this is closed to the public: Instead of the 20,000 spectators hoped for, only 1,000 people are allowed to visit the facility per day. After all: two weeks ago at the US Open, no spectators were allowed to attend – tennis games turned into a ghost atmosphere.

Theoretically, the professionals in the French capital live in a so-called bubble. Unlike in New York, no extravagances such as private houses are allowed. There are two hotels available to the players. In one the professionals live in the rankings from 1 to 60, in the other the rest of the field.

Shapovalov: “New York was much better”

But the hotel isn’t really a bubble like that Alexander Zverev executes: “There are other, regular guests here.” Also professional colleague Nikola Milojevic agrees with the German: “We go to the gym – and absolutely everyone can be there. They hold Pilates courses or other training courses, people come without a mask – the virus could be transmitted from people who have nothing to do with the tournament. ” The Serbian conclusion: “The organizers want to be strict with the players, and then there are things like that.”

Denis Shapovalov finds the clearest words: “There is no bubble. You can leave the hotel, you can go shopping in town, no problem. Nobody will stop you, New York was much better, ”the Canadian notes.

The 21-year-old’s frustration was deep anyway. Against Roberto Carballes Baena he lost his second round game after five hours and five sets. At the score of 5: 4 and 30:15 from Shapovalov’s point of view, the Spaniard returned the ball out of bounds. But referee Carlos Ramos was wrong in checking the print and gave the point. Instead of two match balls for the world number eleventh, it was 30:30 – the end is known.

Tsitsipas: “Sometimes it’s not as accurate as people think”

The people in charge at Roland Garros do not want to use Hawk-Eye at their tournament – in contrast to the other three Grand Slams – because you can easily see the point where the ball hit. To check this, the referee often comes to the court to examine the ball print.

There are two camps in the tennis scene. Traditionalists prefer physical marking on the field. In addition, Hawk-Eye also has a (small) margin of error (3.6 millimeters). Others want the technology to finally be used in clay court tournaments. On behalf of this, Stefanos Tsitsipas: “It’s time for Haw-Eye on sand. I don’t understand why they didn’t introduce it (…) The topping doesn’t really matter. ”

The Greek explains: “This is innovation and we have to continue to grow and keep adding new things to the sport that help make the sport better and fairer. That’s why I wholeheartedly support the fact that there should be Hawk-Eye on every tennis surface (…) I know that it leaves marks, but sometimes it’s not as accurate as people think. “

In contrast to Shapovalov, Tsitsipas is still in the tournament. However, some professionals who either tested positive for Covid-19 themselves or someone from the support team were not allowed to compete. The Spaniard Fernando Verdasco and the Bosnian Damir Dzumhur were refused entry. Together with other “excluded” professionals, they want to file a lawsuit against the organizers around tournament boss Guy Forget.