PARIS – Two female umpires came under fire on Thursday at Roland Garros, criticised by Jim Courier in his role as a television pundit and by Paraguayan Daniel Vallejo following his five-set, five-hour defeat to French prodigy Moise Kouame.
‘This sort of match needs to be umpired by a man; it’s very difficult for a woman to do it,’ Vallejo told CLAY following his 6-3, 7-5, 3-6, 2-6 and 7-6 (10-8) defeat to Kouame, aged 17 and ranked 317th in the world, in the second round of the tournament.
The 22-year-old Paraguayan, ranked 71st in the world, held a 5-2 lead in the final set and fought back from 1-6 down to win 7-6 in the tie-break of that set. He did not reach match point, but came remarkably close to winning a thrilling match at the Suzanne Lenglen Stadium, the second most important venue at the French Open.
The French crowd, which in recent years at Roland Garros has often crossed the line from boisterous to aggressive, passionately cheered on Kouame, who interacted decisively with the stands and benefited, thanks to the crowd’s roars, from welcome breaks amidst the heatwave sweeping across Europe.
Do you really believe that a woman cannot referee this type of match? Vallejo insisted that the Brazilian Ana Carvalho was not the right person for a match like Thursday’s in Paris.
“It has to be refereed by a man, because it’s a very demanding crowd and you need a lot of strength to go against the crowd,” insisted the Paraguayan.
“The crowd was very out of line, but I understand they’re supporting their compatriot. It’s quite an intense crowd and that’s why I was prepared; I already knew it would be like that and, to be honest, it didn’t harm me, but rather strengthened him.”
In what sense? ‘I think he took up a lot of time on many occasions, lying on the floor or stalling. And it’s not normal for the crowd to be shouting for a full minute without any play. In a match where the physical aspect matters so much, if you give a player a lot of time, he’s obviously going to take advantage of it. The truth is, it’s also difficult for a referee to manage this situation.’
Another chair umpire, the Frenchwoman Aurélie Tourte, came under fire from Courier, the former world number one and 1991 and 1992 Roland Garros champion.
The American’s criticism relates to Tourte’s performance at a key moment in the match that the Italian ended up losing to the Argentine Juan Manuel Cerúndolo.
Sinner was serving with a two-set lead, 5-4 and 0-40. The 5-1 lead had been whittled away, and the Italian was moving strangely on the Philippe Chatrier centre court. He was taking longer than the allotted time and was due a warning, but Tourte stepped down from her chair to speak to the world number one.
The conversation went as follows:
– Sinner: If I’m wasting time, how does it work now? I can’t do it. I can’t wait.
– Tourte: If you can’t wait, it depends on what’s wrong with you. Either you’ll be penalised for wasting time and then for a rule violation. If not, we’ll have to see the physio to find out what’s going on.
– Sinner: I don’t know if it’s dehydration.
– Tourte: It’s up to you. Either we call the physio now, they examine you, and then we resume play.
Sinner added that he felt dizzy and went to the changing room to be treated, but the circumstances of the exchange were highly unusual, and they set off alarm bells for Courier, who harshly criticised Tourte.
‘You can’t do that; Tourte should have started the clock. It’s unfair on Cerundolo,’ said the sharp-tongued television pundit. The American Mary Joe Fernández agreed with him.
The matter didn’t escalate because Sinner eventually lost the match, but it’s true that a chair umpire doesn’t usually show that sort of courtesy; they don’t usually come down to approach the player and explain all their options.
At Roland Garros, some recalled the Swede Mohammed Layani, who was suspended for a few weeks in 2018 after Australian Nick Kyrgios said the following to him in the middle of a match: ‘I want to help you.’
For Sinner, long singled out by a section of fans and the media as someone favoured by the powers that be in tennis, Tourte’s ‘help’ did him no favours whatsoever.
