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'This is brutal': Tennis star's extraordinary act after dodgy umpiring call

The Italian Open has played host to some bizarre scenes as Marton Fucsovics was cruelled by a bizarre umpiring blunder.

The World No.37 was battling Nikoloz Basilashvili on Monday when the chair umpire overruled what would have been a double fault.

Basilashvili had match point at 6-2 in the second-set tie-breaker when the line judge called his second serve a fault.

The chair umpire reckoned the ball was good. Image: Tennis TV
The chair umpire reckoned the ball was good. Image: Tennis TV

But the chair umpire overruled and Basilashvili got another first serve, winning the replayed point and the match.

Fucsovics asked the umpire to come down and check the mark, but the official claimed the ball had skipped across the back of the line.

So Fucsovics decided to take matters into his own hands after the match, taking a photo of the mark (which appeared to be well out) with his phone.

Fucsovics captured the evidence. Image: Tennis TV
Fucsovics captured the evidence. Image: Tennis TV

He then uploaded it to his social media channels, asking his followers whether they thought it was out or not.

“I didn’t want to but I received a lot of requests to post it,” he said of the photo.

“If the ball is out then it’s a double fault…still some chance for me.”

And the response was pretty overwhelming.

Fans voted overwhelmingly. Image: Marton Fucsovics
Fans voted overwhelmingly. Image: Marton Fucsovics

Calls for change

The controversy sparked calls to introduce Hawk-Eye on clay, with Canadian star Denis Shapovalov leading the charge.

“This is brutal in my opinion,” Shapovalov wrote on Twitter.

“We need to have Hawkeye on clay. There has to be a way.”