“Should be suspended immediately,” chair-umpire gives a terrible decision to infuriate Mackenzie McDonald in a match against Carlos Alcaraz
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Mackenzie McDonald and chair umpire
Mackenzie McDonald has had a distinctly average start to the 2022 campaign. The American has failed to clear the second round of each of the tournaments he has played until now bar one, which was a quarterfinals appearance at the Dubai Tennis Championship, where he lost to second seed Andrey Rublev.
The American lost to Spanish prodigy Carlos Alcaraz in the Round of 64 of the ongoing Indian Wells Masters. The Spaniard has gone on to reach the quarter-finals of the tournament, where he will face Cameron Norrie.
Mackenzie McDonald furious after a shocker by the umpire
Carlos Alcaraz earned his first win at the BNP Paribas Open against Mackenzie McDonald. The 19th seed had defeated home favorite Mackenzie McDonald 6-3, 6-3 to reach the second round in the California desert.
The 18-year-old converted five of his nine break points and rallied from a breakdown in the second set. McDonald had one slip of concentration when he contested a not-up call, which allowed Alcaraz to take advantage and sprint through the finish line. Alcaraz had thrilled a packed Stadium with his powerful baseline play against a motivated McDonald, who grew up in California and attended the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). The American battled hard, but Alcaraz, who was competing as a Top 20 player in tournament action for the first time, had just a bit more firepower in his one-hour, 35-minute victory.
However, there was a massively controversial moment during the match involving Mackenzie and the umpire. During a rally when the match was 6-3, 2-3 in favor of Alcaraz, McDonald did very well to seemingly keep alive a rally after stretching out fully to reach the ball. However, the amazing passage of play was halted by the chair-umpire. The umpire ruled that the ball had bounced twice, and hence awarded the point to Alcaraz. This sparked a heated response by McDonald, who was convinced he had kept the ball in play. Despite all the protests, the umpire flat refused to watch a replay and even gave him a code violation.
“You can’t call that because I clearly got that…admit it, for you I made a mistake…no no no, you made a mistake, I clearly got it…you can’t call that though…ask for a replay, just get a replay,” argued McDonald vehemently.
After he was handed the code violation, TV replays suggested that the umpire was wrong and the American was right.
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Akash Mandal
(433 Articles Published)