Spoiler alert: it's quite easy.
In November 2019, Thierry Henry stuck out his arm, controlled the ball outstretched, and slotted the ball home, to the outrage of anyone with an Irish persuasion, as the goal sealed France's passage to the 2010 World Cup in South Africa. The entire Irish team knew what happened, anyone watching live knew too, most of the watching public too, and of course, the culprit was aware of what he had done. But the French forward, seeing the net bulge, wheeled away in celebration, as pretty much anyone would do.
Ireland complained to no avail and rance qualified for the showpiece event.
Fast forward to 16 August 2024, and Jack Draper, on match point against Felix Auger-Aliassime, stoops down to pick up a half volley, it seems to ricochet off his racquet, clip the net, and drop nicely from the Brit's point of view over the net.
Auger-Aliassime's immediate reaction, though, was one of relief, as he saw the unusual trajectory of the ball, indicating that Draper had in fact hit the ball into the ground, much like a serve in table tennis, and thus lose the point. The umpire immediately took to the microphone to say that Draper had merely picked the ball up with his racquet off the ground, and therefore won the point, and with it the match.
Auger-Aliassime is gobsmacked. But who is to blame? Draper, who is the one who benefitted, and in some people's eyes, must have known what happened? The umpire, who has been caught up in other controversies in recent weeks? Or perhaps the authorities, namely the ATP, for not having a system in place to check such errors, such as a video review system?
Who is most culpable for what happened on match point at the end of the Jack Draper vs Felix Auger-Aliassime match in Cincinnati?
Draper: He knew he hit the ball into the ground
The umpire got it wrong, plain and simple
The authorities (ATP) for not implementing video review
Draper
"Jack, you know," Auger-Aliassime said to Draper in the immediate aftermath of the controversial moment.
Australian tennis coach, television commentator, and former professional player Rennae Stubbs posted on X: "You know as a player! U just know! I was a serve and volleyer and trust me when i tell you. I would have known."
Andy Roddick seemingly concurred with Stubbs, as he posted on social media: "Every time I've shanked a ball straight into the ground, I've known."
But did Jack really know for sure? I have not played to anywhere near the level of Stubbs, nor anyone on the professional tour, but in a way, for amateurs it is even easier to notice, as we are not playing at the same breakneck speeds of the professionals, and I couldn't be 100% sure. That being the case, it is impossible to expect Draper to give up the point, and, who knows, maybe even the match.
As Talking Tennis' Damian Kust explains: "Jack isn't going to concede the point if he's not 100% sure what happened."
As for Roddick's take, it is such a rare occurrence (maybe once or twice in 40 years of playing?), that is there enough of a sample size to be so sure?
The umpire
Former professional turned commentator Robert Koenig saw it from the commentary box immediately. "No. No. No. Surely that's gone down into the court," the South African remarked. So if Koenig, from his viewpoint could see it, why couldn't the umpire, from just metres away?
Tennis Twitter also had some pretty strong views on chair umpire Greg Allensworth, with Myles David from Tuned Into Tennis remarking: "I’m sure the umpire is a great guy but this is a terrible TERRIBLE call and oversight. Absolutely ridiculous."
From this commentator's standpoint, however, I watched the incident without it being slowed down about five times, and still wasn't sure. The first slow motion replay still left me flummoxed. Only when I saw it frame by frame, could you see the ball bounce into the ground.
Auger-Aliassime, who has been highly praised by many fellow professionals for his reaction, did try and lean on the umpire as much as possible to get him to change his mind.
"That's horrendous what you just did. Did you not see the ball bounce on the floor?"
Clearly the umpire didn't, and who could blame him? You (the umpire) are going to see it later "and it's going to look ridiculous," exclaimed the Canadian. Well, as I have already documented, Allensworth looks anything but a fool from this unfortunate episode. He is a human being, who has to call it as he sees it, which is what he did.
Felix wasn't giving up, though, and you also can't blame him for that either, as he was ultimately in the right. "Are you seriously not coming back on your call?"
The pressure on Allensworth is cranked up even more as the crowd start chanting: "Replay! Replay! Replay!"
Felix then calls the Supervisor, though we know how these always end.
Talking Tennis' Damian Kust says: "Of course the supervisor can't change anything. This is a judgement call by the chair, not a question of the rules."
"I'm going to ask you one last time," Felix said to the umpire. "If you're 100% sure that you're not going to leave here, and that you have no doubt, not one ounce of doubt in yourself, that that was a clean volley winner, and if you tell me "yes" I will shake his hand and the match will be over."
It was a decent final stab, as of course the umpire is now riddled with doubt, but rightly says he can only call it as he saw it, which was that it wasn't a clean shot, that it came off his "frame" but he saw it as a legal shot.
Felix has been understandably praised for not going berserk and smashing racquets, and no expletives, but he is using some interesting psychological ploys here to get the umpire to change his mind, but it was unfair, even if the decision was ultimately wrong.
The ATP
At the US Open this would be reviewed, but not elsewhere on the tour.
So why on earth can't we have it elsewhere on the tour?
The criticism of VAR in football, where it severely holds up the play, on subjective decisions, several times a match, and takes the drama away, just doesn't hold with tennis.
The video replay would ONLY be used for objective incidents like this, which would barely occur, unlike in football. We have instant electronic line calling for 99% of these kinds of controversies, so it may come up once or twice a week, rather than 5-10 times per match. The drama in tennis is different too, and can even be ratcheted up while we see the replay, in the stadium, unlike football.
Verdict: Authorities, sort it out.
For the trained eye & ear of a tennis player this was a fairly straightforward call: not just because the trajectory looked slightly odd given Draper's racket face position, but also because a ball ricocheting straight into the ground has a very distinct & different sound compared to a ball skidding off the court and being picked up with a half volley. The bounce is much louder (if you watch the clip you'll notice it is way more audible than the serve's bounce which wouldn't really make sense as the serve is hit much harder than the return). That's why Felix immediately knew it was a dead ball and went to the deuce side. Just as color commentator and forme…