ATP Geneva: Mannarino concedes a point to Krajinovic, but the umpire denies it!

The chair umpire in the match between the Frenchman and the Serbian makes an inexplicable decision


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ATP Geneva: Mannarino concedes a point to Krajinovic, but the umpire denies it!
ATP Geneva: Mannarino concedes a point to Krajinovic, but the umpire denies it! (Provided by Tennis World USA)

What happened in Geneva in the match between Adrian Mannarino and Filip Krajinovic is incredible, indeed, inexplicable. With the score 5-1 and service for the Frenchman, one step away from victory after having already won the first set, Krajinovic unleashes an extremely secluded backhand that goes wide.

Mannarino goes to check the mark of the ball first and evaluates it as good, only to then wait for the check from chair umpire Greg Allensworth and this is where the absurd dynamic occurs. The referee, differently from the French, evaluates Krajinovic's shot out and concedes a point to Mannarino, sending him up 30-0.

"So, you grant him the point?" Allensworth asked Mannarino, who suddenly changed his mind: "No, I'm not conceding the point. If he's out, he's out, I don't care." At that point, the injured party could not fail to intervene, Krajinovic, who extremely annoyed asked Allensworth for an explanation: "It doesn't matter, he's winning anyway.

It doesn't matter about this match. Then ask him what he thinks. If he's decided whether it's good or no. It's good. Why ask him? You asked him if he says he's inside." The Serbian, in fact, wondered why the chair umpire had asked Mannarino to evaluate the sign of the ball if by now the Frenchman had already judged it good.

Allensworth, for his part, justified his choice by explaining that what counted, in the end, was his choice, not Mannarino's. An absurd story that Tennis TV has decided to show on its social networks.

On October 17, 2022, Mannarino became the best-placed Frenchman on the major circuit for the first time. A record that he has lost but that has never conditioned him on the pitch.

he said to L'Equipe: "I hate watching my matches on television. For me it's like being the first of the pacifiers. When I grew up, France had a lot of tennis players at the top of the league and who played excellently. Being number one one from my country with a rather normal ranking, it doesn't mean much to me."