OMG: THE CHAIR UMPIRE KNEW HIS MISTAKE AT THE MOMENT!!

[Andy Zarzuela]

OMG! I'm so pissed about the Sprem/Venus match. Venus was not upset, she was ROBBED!!

BTW, IF YOU EVER SEE THE MATCH AGAIN LOOK AT THE CHAIR UMPIRE'S WINK AT SPREM WHEN HE ANNOUNCES THE SCORE BEING 2-ALL INSTEAD OF THE CORRECT 3-1 IN FAVOR OF WILLIAMS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


THIS WAS HIS EXPRESSION TO SPREM WHEN SHE WAS AWARDED A FREE POINT --> :wink:

BTW, SPREM KNEW WHAT HAPPENED; THAT'S WHY SHE GOT THE WINK FROM THE UMPIRE.

GRRRR I SWEAR THE TIEBREAK SHOULD BE REPLAYED AT 3-1, BECAUSE THE PLAYERS DO NOT KEEP SCORE, THEY HAVE OFFICIALS THAT DO IT FOR THEM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
________
Motorcycle tires

 

[The tennis guy]

I am sure there are people who think there was a conspiracy behind this which is ridiculous. No empire would delibately make mistake like that for the whole world to see, and knew for sure the players wouldn't ask about it. It was a stupid mistake. that is it.

I guess you are one of very few who think Venus lost the match because of that one point, even Venus and her father didn't think so. If you have watched the whole match, you know why she lost it. She had 3 set points after that incident.

I just hope she would fix her second serve and her forehand. It has been like this even when she was winning - many people pointed these out throughout her career. When the aura disappears, and other players are not afraid of her power anymore, she needs to improve her technique and variety to stay where she wants to be. When she couldn't overpower Sprem - actually Sprem liked her pace - she didn't know what else to do with shaky forehand and second serve.

 

[Vlad]

Yes, the umpire winked at Sprem when she looked at him with confusion. She knew what was going on, but he didn't. He winked because he thought Sprem forgot where she is serving from. It was a stupid mistake but no any conspiracy of any kind. Venus is dumb though. She and umpire didn't have a clue.

 

[The tennis guy]

The following article is q pretty accurate description of what actually happenned:

"The confusion on Center Court began in the second-set tie breaker with Sprem serving at 1-2 in the ad court.

She hit a first serve that landed wide and was called out by the line judge. Williams knocked the ball back to Sprem's side of the court, and the Croatian slapped a backhand into the open court and then turned around and began walking back to hit her second serve. But Watts, perhaps disoriented by the smattering of applause that greeted Sprem's practice shot, announced the score as "2-all."

Sprem then hit her second serve, which Williams returned for a winner down the line. This time, Watts announced "3-2" in favor of Williams. In fact, it was 3-1, and though both Williams and Sprem were clearly confused, neither protested. Though Sprem should have served the next point from the deuce court, Williams eventually grabbed the balls that were rolled to her and served from the ad court on her side.

"Sometimes I do lose track of the score, and I just felt that maybe I had lost track again," Williams said.

Even with Sprem's extra point, Williams still had multiple chances to extend this match. She took a 6-3 lead in the tie breaker when Sprem, clearly nervous in the latter stages of the match, double faulted. But Williams played poorly from there, as Sprem saved the first set point with a forehand pass, saved the second when Williams double faulted and saved the third when Williams made an unforced forehand error into the net.

It was 6-6, and Williams lost the next 2 points by missing a straightforward forehand volley on top of the net and then knocking a forehand long.

Without Watts's error, the tie-breaker score would only have been 7-6 at that stage. With his error, it was 8-6, and Williams was eliminated."

 

[Camilio Pascual]

Andy, I think Sprem knew, I have that impression from seeing her body language and facial expression. But, we don't really know, nor do we have proof. It might be that it is what I wanted to see, because I was rooting for Venus. Venus and Richard Williams have acted well and it is a good idea to follow their lead on this matter. The chair should be fined and/or suspended for incompetence. I think he was thrown off by the applause and made a terrible mistake. It is an understandable scoring mistake I am sure we have all made, but we're not chairing Wimby. So, he should be punished, but not scorned.

 

[baseliner]

I was pleased with teh reaction of both Venus and Richard. Showed a greeat deal of class in dealing with this matter. Whether Sprem knew is another matter. I agree with Camillo that from her reaction she knew. Does that put her in the Justine "the hand" category of cheater? Also believe the chair umpire should be disciplined. No way was it deliberate, but he is paid to get it right.

 

[Cypo]

"Does that put her in the Justine "the hand" category of cheater?"

I wouldn't say so. Not correcting a mistake and lying are pretty different. She served a second serve and was probably just confused about the score but not willing to break her concentration and figure out why. Especially in a tie break when you start from the left and the scoring in different, it's easy to lose your bearing.

I agree about the umpire though - maybe he should pay the fine to Venus . Venus's reaction doesn't surprise me though - it seems pretty in character to me.

 

[fantom]

Chris Fowler said on this morning's coverage that that chair umpire isn't scheduled for ANY matches today. I'll bet we don't see him for the rest of the fortnight.....and rightfully so.

 

[BLiND]

I don't think either player knew exactly what was wrong.

Sprem had a confused look on her face for the rest of the match... she didn't know the score was wrong, but she knew something was wrong... because she served from the same side twice.

Andy... it was called 2-2 instead of 2-1... not 3-1 as you say... the umpire added an extra point, rather than awarding Sprem Williams' point.

 

[womackD]

I only have a few things to say:

1. Sprem played better than Venus and deserved to win, regardless of the Umpire's mistake.. Venus had ample opportunities to win, including a 6-3 lead in the tie break and couldnt do it.

2. Calling Spram a cheater is rediculous.
Venus said nothing

Spram said nothing

The head official said nothing

The always loud, sometimes beligerant European crowd said nothing (and they boo everything).

Richard "i have johnny cochran on speed dial" Williams said nothing..

It was a mistake, period.

 

[PrestigeClassic]

Why be so hard on the chair ump? This was a once-per-century mistake; he was the one that happened to make it. I'm sure as an ump he feels bad enough, why fire him? Politics??? By the way, did anybody see the man in the Williams box not clapping in the closing points? I think he knew..

And no, unless the ump had a death wish, I don't think it was intentional. What's weird is that it's not the ump's responsibility that the players serve to the right court and also make sure the correct player is serving. If this was the ump's responsility to correct, then the mistake would have come to light right away. This was everybody's fault, and what made it possible was imposing these responsiblities on the players that are already concentrating on their playing.

 

[TwistServe]

The umpire wanted to shag sprem.. Thats basically the conspiracy of this delema! :roll:

 

[Bungalo Bill]

One point did not decide this match. Venus was clearly out played and the winner is justified by her play with a win no matter how it came down.

No chair umpire is going to risk their job openly. A mistake it was, but the the win went to the right player.

 

[bigserving]

Venus is dumb though.

Could you elaborate?

 

[a verrry large duck]

bungalo bill:
One point did not decide this match. Venus was clearly out played and the winner is justified by her play with a win no matter how it came down.

What point would ever decide a match then if not this one? this isn't a 6-3,6-3 match first of all. This was a 7-6,7-6 match and such matches don't fall under the heading of one player bieng "clearly out played". This was as close a match as you possibly can get, the disputed point of which would have given venus another 50/50 opportunity to sent this match into an unknown third set. Having an extra set point at the very point you're about to win a set is about as meaningful as anything I can think of. I think Sprem deserves to win too, she obviously played well, but I don't buy this one point has no influence on a match outcome.

 

[bigserving]

What's weird is that it's not the ump's responsibility that the players serve to the right court and also make sure the correct player is serving.

This is absolutely wrong! All of that is the chair's responsibility. If a player serves from the wrong side of the center service line, a foot fault should be called.

Other than that, I agree with what you wrote.

Having played in front of small crowds with a chair ump, I can understand everyone's perspective. If everyone else seems to think the called score was correct, it can take some large stones to question the chair about the score. If you are wrong, you look like a complete fool. Embarrassing.

Had anyone loudly spoke up and drawn attention to the situation at the time, player, other umpire, or even fans, it may have been easier for a second or third person to stick their neck out and chime in.

 

[PrestigeClassic]

I agree. I don't think anybody would know what they would have done had they never before been in a very similar situation. It is generally not likely for someone to speak up when thousands of others are also not trying to draw attention to the situation. Imagine what a goofball you would look like had you imagined the mistake: you would be thrown into the loony bin or something. Maybe this is the same principle behind the chair ump's not calling a foot fault, because such an "obvious" foot fault would normally have been caught by the center linesjudge. I don't know, what a weird situation. My only guess is that the players thought that Sprem had served to start two points, but both times from the ad court. Now what would have happened had Sprem missed her "first service" at "2-2"?