Dan Evans fires furious six-word umpire verdict after spiky French Open exit | Tennis | Sport
Dan Evans admitted “I am fed up with umpires” after crashing out of the French Open to Holger Rune. The British No.3 was fined at the Rome Masters earlier this month for disputing an incorrect line call.
And Evans rowed with Spanish official Jaume Campistol twice in the third set before going down 6-4 6-4 6-4 to the world No.13.
First Rune, 21, challenged the Spanish umpire about a code violation for racquet abuse as he got broken to trail 2-4. And in the next game, the Dane argued with Campistol again after he over-ruled a line call during Evans’s service game before he then broke back.
During the next changeover, Evans told the Spaniard: “You have a duty to keep the match flowing and you’re having a conversation with him. A long one. Two long ones. It’s madness.”
And after his sixth consecutive Tour-level defeat, the world No.62 said: “I’m fed up with the umpires, flat full stop.
“Definitely having a conversation on somebody else’s serve, you don’t see it in any other sport. In rugby they get 10 metres or whatever, squash you’re not allowed, it’s no talking. We just sit there and have a conversation. We’ve seen many cases of it.
“What’s the point in the conversation? What is the point? That’s all I’m asking is the point. What is the point? He accepted the call. Rune accepted the call? Just having a chat about it at the net. No one’s changing the call. They both accepted the call and he had a chat about it.”
Evans was playing local favourite Fabio Fognini in the Italian capital and was tonight facing the Danish No.1 who has reached the quarter-finals in his first two appearances at the French Open.
Asked if umpires favour big-name players, Evans added: “You have to be a strong character to come down but remember they do pretty much exactly the same as we do when we all wake up in the morning. They are humans and I think some of them forget that. We saw many, many examples of that, but I don’t think we need to go into that.
Evans was fined for unsportsmanlike conduct at the Rome Masters earlier this month after clashing with umpire Mohamed Lahyani following an incorrect linecall by the Swedish official.
“I made a point of looking at my prize money receipt and I was fined,” said the British No.3. “That’s the tour for you, isn’t it? The powers that be don’t have to answer the questions, it’s the players. It’s disappointing really.”