Angry Wimbledon stars argue at net as Clare Balding fires immediate jibe | Tennis | Sport
Felix Auger-Aliassime and Alejandro Davidovich Fokina exchanged words for a considerable time after the final set of their epic Wimbledon clash. Davidovich Fokina went down in pain on break point on the Auger-Aliassime serve in set four, only to recover, prompting BBC presenter Clare Balding to compare the incident to footballers’ perceived injuries at the World Cup. The Spaniard won a point on the Auger-Aliassime serve to give himself two break points to stay alive, only to then begin hobbling in pain. He received attention courtside but ultimately got back up to his feet with a grimace.
At the time, the No.3 seed was serving for the match. Auger-Aliassime hadn’t been broken all tournament but he double-faulted the very next point to allow Davidovich Fokina to draw level at 5-5 in the fourth set before winning a tie-break. Auger-Aliassime won the fifth set 6-1 and the pair had a heated argument after shaking the umpire’s hand.
Davidovich Fokina then had another bite at his rival when he was making his way off the court.
On the BBC, there was speculation that the nature of the injury was what caused the exchange between the two seeds.
“There was something of an angry exchange after the match,” Clare Balding said on the BBC’s coverage. “I believe this is because [Davidovich Fokina] turned an ankle, had a bit of attention to that and then seemed to be moving fine and running fine, which can happen.
“If you’ve been watching the football at the World Cup you’ll see all sorts of recoveries are made from percieved injuries. After that as Davidovich Fokina was leaving the court he went back for a little afters.
“We’ll find out more detail from this because Felix is just doing his on court interview. We’ll clarify exactly what all this is all about.”
Ultimately, Auger-Aliassime didn’t address the moment in his on-court comments. However, he was then asked about it in a press conference and spoke some more on the matter.
“Well, the interactions between him and I, I don’t want to get into that,” the Montreal-born star said. “If he wants to come in here and talk about it, he can. But he knows my opinion.
“That’s one of these things that I have differences with people in my life on tour. They know what I think. That’s the most important.
“Now what I can say, though, is that I think the rule has to change. I think that obviously as long as the rule is like that, a player will use it to their advantage.
“I think that it’s very simple: if you’re hurt bad, or whatever you’re hurt, while the game’s going on of your opponent, in the middle of the game, the opponent is serving, the shot clock is on, basically when you’re hurt bad, you’re forfeiting every point until you can call the physio. If the physio helps you recover, you play your service game. If you’re hurt bad, then you retire, obviously.
“But to stop in the middle of an opponent’s service game and to be able to call the physio, I think that’s a disgrace of a rule. I don’t see any other sport where you can do that. I mark my words. It’s a disgrace of a rule. So that’s it.”
