Tsitsipas was intimidated again! The difference is that this time it is not Murray nor Zverev, nor Medvedev, but the recently hot Spanish teenager Alcaraz.
The people who took Tsitsipas were different each time, but the reasons for the scare were somewhat similar, either because they had been in the bathroom for too long or because they were under off-court coaching from the coach. For example, this time Alcaraz stammered him because he went to the bathroom.
"In previous games, I've never seen an opponent go to the bathroom during a break." Alcalas said this on April 23 after winning Tsitsipas in the quarter-finals of the ATP500 Barcelona leg.
Tsitsipas, ranked fifth in the world, just successfully defended his title at the Monte Carlo Masters last week. After arriving in Barcelona, Tsitsipas defeated Ivaska 6-1, 4-6 6-2 in the first match and Dimitrov 6-1, 6-4 in the second.
As the schedule progressed, the race became more and more exciting. I mean not only the intensity and intensity of the game, but also the interesting tidbits of Tsitsipas' game.
In the third game, Tsitsipas met homegrown rookie Alcaraz. In the first set, Tsitsipas slapped the body of Alcaraz, who had come to the net. This move caused Alcaraz to gaze at Tsitsipas for a moment, while the audience booed Tsitsipas. Only then did Tsitsipas raise his hand to apologize.
The controversial move didn't give Tsitsipas any bargaining, and he still lost the first set 4-6.
By the second set, Alcaraz was reversed by Tsitsipas with a 4-1 lead. After losing the second set 5-7, Alcaraz left the court to change clothes in the bathroom.
In the decider, Tsitsipas also left the court to change clothes when he was 3-0 behind, and returned to be sent off by the referee for two points. Tsitsipas got into an argument with the referee about this, complaining that his opponent also went to the bathroom after the second set and timed out, and questioned why the referee did not punish Alcaraz at that time, but punished himself.
After such a toss, Tsitsipas eventually lost the decider 2-6. He posted on social media after the game, which roughly meant that the referee should be fired, and revealed that the referee's explanation for not punishing Alcaraz was that he did not go to the bathroom for more than the required length of time (3 minutes).
However, some people calculated after the game that Alcaraz actually took 7 and a half minutes to go to the bathroom, which had already timed out.
So why didn't the referee punish Alcaraz?
I found the answer in the latest edition of the ATP Rulebook this year. Page 86 of the rulebook details the restroom suspension. Roughly speaking, in a best-of-three game game, players are only allowed to go to the bathroom once, and it must be during the break, and the bathroom is suspended for 3 minutes, and the timing begins when the player enters the bathroom and ends when they return to the court. In addition, if a player needs to change t-shirts, socks and shoes, they are only allowed to change on the court, and things that can be done to go to the bathroom include: urinating, showering and changing underwear T-shirts.
Therefore, some people calculated that the Alcaraz washroom took 7 and a half minutes, and such a timing method did not meet the provisions of the ATP rulebook. However, Tsitsipas went to the bathroom during the bureau's break, which was certainly not in line with the ATP rulebook, and coupled with the timeout, it was found to be two violations, and the referee's penalty of 2 points was in line with the rulebook.
As for Tsitsipas arguing that he did not understand the rules, that was certainly not a valid reason, and should be regarded as a nonsense, and the referee was right to ignore his "statement".
Alcaraz also commented on the controversial event after the game, "Seriously, I don't know. I've never seen anyone go to the bathroom during a set break in previous games. I don't know the exact rules, but I do know that Tsitsipas was indeed penalized. ”
Alcalas went on to say that Tsitsipas did this to disrupt the rhythm of his opponents. "Honestly, he was trying to disrupt my rhythm. The washroom was a bit far from the pitch and he did it to interrupt my lead in the third set. But he didn't succeed in the end, which was a good result. (Source: Tennis House Author: Yun Cirrus YunShu)