Tennis world erupts over 'inexcusable' act: 'Utterly disgusting'
The disgraceful scenes have left the tennis world in disbelief.
Swedish star Mikael Ymer has been condemned across the tennis world after an extraordinary meltdown that has been described as "disgusting" and "inexcusable" from viewers. Ymer was disqualified from his round of 16 clash against Arthur Fils at the Lyon Open after smashing his racquet into the umpire's chair after a questionable line call.
The opening set was level at 5-5 when Ymer exploded over a decision from the chair umpire, who ruled that a shot from Fils had hit the line. The Swede was adamant the ball had landed out and demanded the official come down and show him the mark on the line where it supposedly landed.
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A lengthy debate ensued as Ymer became increasingly more incensed by the umpire's refusal to show him the mark on clay where the shot from his opponent had struck. “Show me the mark then. Show me the mark,” Ymer yelled. “You thought it clearly bounced on the line? Then show me the mark on the line.
“I’ve never witnessed that a ref say I’m not gonna go down and check the mark. No, it doesn’t happen.”
Ymer even referenced an incident the previous day where Richard Gasquet had requested the chair umpire to inspect a mark. To compound Ymer's frustrations, Fils went on to break his Swedish opponent to move 6-5 ahead, sparking truly wild scenes in Lyon.
As Ymer walked back to his chair, he turned his attention on the umpire's chair by smashing it multiple times with his racquet. Having put on a hole in the chair before throwing his busted racquet away in disgust, Ymer was promptly disqualified from the match.
Tennis world hits out over explosive incident
While most viewers lashed the disgraceful behaviour from the Swedish player, some argued that the chair umpire was wrong to have not at least checked the mark with the Swede. “Not justifying the reaction at all but the amount of people that think a bad bounce = line hit is insane.” American tennis ace Taylor Fritz wrote on Twitter. “Crazy bounces happen all over the court and especially near lines.”
This is disgraceful behaviour from Mikael Ymer, who is rightly disqualified from the match in Lyon.
Can expect a hefty fine and (by precedent of Zverev) a suspended ban.pic.twitter.com/r1Tp87IlNA— James Gray (@jamesgraysport) May 24, 2023
Ymer with a moment of madness here, gets angry with the umpire and smashes his racquet against the Umpire’s chair. Got himself disqualified. pic.twitter.com/Orakf66u1a
— MrBanks💰 (@Mrbankstips) May 24, 2023
After Moutet embarrasses himself on Sunday, Fucsovics makes a fool of himself yesterday, Mikael Ymer has decided to pull a Pliskova today. Disgraceful behavior. Some of these players need to get a grip, my goodness. It's a horrible look for all three of them.
— AllAboutTennisBlog (@TennisBlogger1) May 24, 2023
Some shocking decisions in this Ymer Fils match by the referee.
First refuses to check a mark that was clearly out for a point for Ymer. Ymer proceeds to get broken and smashes part of the the ref’s chair. Inexcusable actions, but another referee that should be held accountable— Thundah (@ThundahPicks) May 24, 2023
Just seen the full clip of Ymer's behaviour and I'm glad he was defaulted. Utterly disgusting behaviour and he deserves a significant fine and a ban.
Players should never be allowed to treat umpires in that manner.— PT (@PTTennis1) May 24, 2023
Inexcusable behavior from Ymer to hit the umpire chair like that so therefore DQ warranted, but the umpire needed to get off his high horse and check the damn mark in this case. pic.twitter.com/JgIUFHHO9o
— Vansh (@vanshv2k) May 24, 2023
In other matches, British No.1 Cameron Norrie moved into the Lyon quarter-finals with a 6-3 6-4 victory over David Goffin. The defending champion needed less than 90 minutes to see off the Belgian and saved five break points before setting up a meeting with Sebastian Baez in the last-eight.
Victory was Norrie's 12th in Lyon and 50th overall on clay after winning the tournament last year and reaching the final in 2021. The World No.14 - who was involved in a tense encounter in his Italian Open defeat to Novak Djokovic last week - will be hoping to continue his run going in preparation for next week's French Open.
Elsewhere, top seed Felix Auger-Aliassime beat qualifier Pablo Llamas Ruiz 7-5 6-2 and American Tommy Paul edged out Frenchmen Gregoire Barrere 7-6 (6) 4-6 6-3. At the Geneva Open, Casper Ruud and Taylor Fritz progressed to the quarter-finals with straight sets wins over JJ Wolf and Marcos Giron respectively.
with agencies
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