A player rises up: "The biggest robbery I've ever seen in Tennis!"



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A player rises up: "The biggest robbery I've ever seen in Tennis!"

It is almost surreal about what happened in the race valid for the last qualifying round for ATP 250 in Houston. In the very balanced challenge between Steven Diez and Gijs Brouwer, after two hours of play the first match points arrive in favor of the Canadian.

The third attempt turns out to be the good one: Diez responds very well to the Dutchman's serve. The match is over, the chair referee yells "game, set and match".
However, while the winner is celebrating access to the main draw, Gijs Brouwer points to the sign of his last serve that is due to come out.

By regulation, the match would be over but the Iranian referee Amir Borghei decides to go down and see the sign and changes his decision. The ball has gone out and the game must continue. Diez, who hasn't made it to a main circuit board since September 2020, can't get over what just happened.

The match resumes and the game is dramatically overturned, ending 4-6, 7-5, 6-2 for Gijs Brouwer. The colleagues of Punto de Break, to get a better explanation of what happened, contacted the Canadian tennis player: "When I saw the referee get off the chair I couldn't believe it.

I see him score a ball one meter to the right of the mark real, the line corrects him and tells him what the real sign is, but he insists it is the other.
It's been a day and I still don't understand how this can happen at this level, in the last round of an ATP 250 qualifier.

If you remember something similar that happened in the past in a tennis match. It's not because it was my match, but I really don't remember a thing like that. If this had happened in a Grand Slam or with the wrong player, whether it was Nadal, Djokovic, Federer or Kyrgios, I assure you it would have made it to all the sports pages.

It is a real barbarism which, moreover, coincides with a match point " About what happened after the match point: "We stop the game for 7-8 minutes until the supervisor arrives, but obviously the supervisor wasn't on the court, so he has to believe the chair referee's version.

A version that the chair referee invents. The supervisor tells me that he cannot do anything, although later in private he told me that he believed more in my version than that of the chair referee." Diez then had to resume playing: "I assure you that after removing the cuffs, releasing the tension and about to shake hands with my opponent, it is very difficult to get back into the game.

The next two games were terrible, I tried everything to continue, but I also got dizzy. I would not wish anyone what happened to me. I've seen so many mistakes, but never like those made in a match." About what the referee did: "I have no doubt that the referee tried to do his job as best he could, but he was not up to the task.

It all happened at exactly the right time for one of the biggest robberies I've ever seen in the history of the sport. I have seen chair umpires make serious mistakes, but this man made several mistakes in a row on the same spot.

Yesterday there were two games: I won the first and I lost the second. If he later complained to the ATP. The supervisor invited me to go to his office after the game, but I told him it wasn't the right time, I was so angry that I could say something I could regret.

I took a shower, 45 minutes went by and then I went to his office, where the supervisor, tour manager and off-court referee were. When I arrived they had already reviewed the videos and told me that I was absolutely right, that the only thing I could do was make an internal complaint explaining what happened, with my signature and that of the supervisor.

I would like one day, if we meet in some tournament, he would come and apologize. Other than that, I don't think he should referee another match this week, he can't be back in his chair today, even though that's probably going to happen.

What happened yesterday in that office was unbelievable, I burst into tears of anger and helplessness. I have suffered several injuries, I have been through difficult personal moments and I am not at my best. Just when I was starting to show that I was there, this happens to me, they rob me like this."