Belarussian Wonders About French Open Line Calls

Azarenka lost 2-6, 6-3, 6-4 to world no.42 Bianca Andreescu on Tuesday, with her outrage sparked during the defeat as she disputed a line call. The French Open is the only Grand Slam of the four tennis showpiece events which does not use HawkEye technology to resolve disputed line calls, with the technology having been a welcome addition since its introduction at Wimbledon in 2007.

During the first set of her defeat, Azarenka disputed the call made by the umpire, who stepped down from the chair to judge whether a ball had landed in or not based on marks on the clay.

“You make marks with your finger,” the Belarusian was heard to say. “We need electronic line-calling because you guys are useless here! You’re useless here.”

Azarenka went on to win the first set, but was beaten after losing the following two sets of the match, with a first round exit a disappointing outcome for the 18th seed. She had reached her first Grand Slam semi-final since 2020 at the Australian Open earlier this year and had been rising through the rankings following a disappointing run in the past couple of years.

Victoria Azarenka fumes at “useless” umpires and demands change after French Open exit (msn.com)

Russian top player Sharapova was banned for taking the same nutritional ingredients all top players take by a British court.  Russian players are still effectively banned as they are forced to sign neutrality agreements before playing.  At least Djokovic can still stand up for Serbia as tensions rise in Kosovo.  Heavily attacked by the BBC and the bloody minded western media, well done Novax!

French Open 2023: Novak Djokovic criticised for message about Kosovo after first-round win – BBC Sport