Kodak moment

[strife726]

Updated: 02:17 PM EDT
Tennis-Schuettler keeps photo souvenir of disputed call


MONTE CARLO, April 22 (Reuters) - Germany's Rainer Schuettler will keep a photo souvenir of his three sets victory over Lleyton Hewitt in the third round of the Monte Carlo Masters on Thursday.

The German fourth seed took a picture of the ball's mark on the clay after a disputed call allowed the Australian former world number one to save a crucial break point.

"I took a picture because the ball was clearly out," Schuettler said after his 6-4 3-6 6-4 win.

"We have fantastic equipment to judge balls these days and we see mistakes like this," he added.

Schuettler was 2-1 up in the second set and a break would have allowed him to lead 3-1 and take a giant step towards match victory.

On break point, the German judged Hewitt's serve long but the chair umpire checked the mark and awarded the point to the Australian.

To everybody's surprise, Schuettler fumbled in his bag, seized a disposable camera and took a picture of the mark as evidence of his good faith.

He received a warning and appeared to lose his momentum as Hewitt went on to win eight of the next nine games.

"Everybody complains about tennis getting boring and when someone does something out of the ordinary, he receives a warning.

"The crowd laughed but not the umpire. It's a shame," Schuettler said.

 

[norcal]

I like that, it would be funny to see. A little ways back (IW maybe) Andrei Pavel was getting lit up (by fed?) and after chasing a ball wide near the net he ran into the cooler. He asked people in the crowd if they wanted ice cream then jumped in the cooler and closed the lid and hid. It was funny and gave the tennis personality. The fans loved it.

 

[dander]

it was actually the AO against ferrero, who was the only person in the stadium not laughing. he looked irritated as hell

 

[Astennix]

It is SO wrong to put Schuttler a warning for taking a picture of the ball mark...I think it was a clever and funny way of expressing his anger. However, NOBODY put a warning on Safin when he was angrily claiming for a ball against Olivier Rochus on Monday. Safin said to the umpire's face: "You don't f@#k with me.." and then he finished his great "lecture" with a "look...if the ball is IN on TV..then it will be OK if I come back and punch you in the face.." Great Marat...beautifully spoken..go on like this and you will get a Nobel prize soon.

 

[Deuce]

I like Schuettler's originality. If it wasn't pre-planned, it requires an interesting mind to think of and do something like that.

 

[topspin]

A perfect example of why shot spot needs to be brought to the game so these judges can have less of an impact on the athletes. It's very possible he had shot spot in mind when he said "We have fantastic equipment to judge balls these days and we see mistakes like this," . So true.

 

[SonicSpeed]

Hopefully they'll implement shot spots for official calls. Still seems far-fetched but hey, who knows.