Last week, we saw a line call controversy in Stuttgart, where World No.1 Aryna Sabalenka grabbed everyone’s attention with her photo-grabbing moment on clay, against Elise Mertens. Reason? The chair umpire called Sabalenka’s shot out, based on the electronic line calling technology. While the ball mark on the surface clearly showed it was ‘in,’ the Belarusian snapped a photo from her phone and shared it online as proof. Hardly a week since that incident, another line call controversy took place, this time in Madrid, leaving German pro Alexander Zverev stunned and upset. And now, it’s compelled several former ATP pros to question the credibility of chair umpires in the racket sport.

For the unversed, Zverev was playing against Spain’s Alejandro Davidovich Fokina last week, in R32, at the Madrid Open. Mohamed Lahyani was officiating the encounter as the chair umpire. Zverev eventually won the match after losing the first set. He pulled off a strong comeback with a final score line of 2-6, 7-6(3), 7-6(0). However, the joy of victory was marred by an unpleasant incident. It took place during the second set in the 10th game.

Fokina hit a shot that went wide, but the electronic line calling technology termed it ‘in.’ Shocked at this judgment, Zverev walked up to chair umpire Lahyani and told him that there was a “malfunction in the system.” But his appeal yielded no result. Having no other option to prove his point, he took out his phone and captured the spot where Fokina’s shot hit the clay surface – the picture clearly showed it was ‘out.’

Former American pros Steve Johnson, John Isner, Sam Querrey, and Jack Sock later discussed this incident on the Nothing Major Podcast. Reacting to Zverev’s act, Johnson defended him, saying, “Sascha stayed pretty calm and I love that Mohamed’s in the chair, like, ‘Look I can’t get out. There’s no way I can get out and check that mark you know'”.

Per Johnson, “Sascha was basically asking, like, ‘I’m not asking you to overrule the point, but take a look at the mark and just tell me the machine is wrong’. Because that’s where we lose confidence if we can clearly see things and the mark says something different, especially if they are on clay.”

Querrey chimed in as he questioned Mohamed Lahyani. “It puts the umpire in the worst position,” he said. Johnson agreed, saying, “For sure.”

John Isner then took a jab at modern-day chair umpires’ lack of judgment. “Can we talk about how easy it is to be an ATP umpire now?” he asked. Explaining his point further, he added, “You don’t have to do anything, right? You just call the score.” To that, Jack Sock agreed, saying, “You are on your iPad and you just, like, click the score every time. You do nothing.”

Zverev was left so disappointed at the chair umpire’s judgment during his match against Fokina that he believes it’s time for a change in the system itself!

Alexander Zverev calls for a big change following the line-calling controversy in Madrid

Not only was the controversial line-call decision not overruled, but Alexander Zverev was also penalized for his reaction. According to officials, his act of taking a picture of the ball mark with his phone was not an act of sportsmanship at all. Sascha received a warning from the officials as well.

But in the post-match conference, he didn’t hide his feelings. “Honestly, I believe there was a failure in the system, I think there was an error in the system at that moment. I am a fan of the electronic system, but the ball was… It’s not just a little, a millimeter in or out, it was like four, five centimeters,” Zverev said.

Continuing further, he added, “Honestly, I believe there was a failure in the system at that moment. That’s why I addressed the chair umpire and said, ‘Please come down to see this, I’m not crazy (laughing), I can see what was happening.”

However, the World No.2 admitted that he had no actual issues with chair umpire Lahyani. But he did stress the fact that umpires should take a closer look at the court in such instances. “For an error like this to happen, yes, one or two millimeters I understand, but four, five centimeters is not normal. I believe there was a failure in the system itself, and when something like this happens, perhaps the chair umpire should be able to come down.”

In another interview, Zverev stressed reviewing “the system, maybe to readjust it a little bit because there was a few… I mean, my serve that Ale was complaining about was also out.”

What are your thoughts on electronic line calling? Does the current system require changes? Let us know in the comments below.