Felix Auger-Aliassime found himself in the most bizarre situation of his career during a Cincinnati Masters round-of-16 match against Jack Draper – and while he did his best to remain respectful and not cross the line – he ended up warning chair umpire Greg Allensworth that his highly questionable decision would lead to him “looking ridiculous” afterward.
With Draper serving for the match and having 40/30 on his serve, the Briton opted for a serve-and-volley. However, Auger-Aliassime was ready and he hit a near-perfect return which landed directly at Draper’s feet – the ball appeared to hit the Briton’s frame and touch the court before bouncing off the net and landing in the Canadian’s side.
But after Allensworth remained silent in those few seconds and then proceeded to call “game, set, match Draper,” world No. 19 Auger-Aliassime was left looking stunned and in disbelief. Moments later, the 24-year-old Canadian was heard telling Allensworth: “That’s horrendous what you just did. But did you not see the ball bounce on the floor (court)?”
Allenshorth appeared to be a bit stunned by Auger-Aliassime’s claim, responding: “Like, after he hit it?” which led to the Canadian highlighting: “He shanked it on the floor. What do you mean?”
But Allensworth still couldn’t believe that indeed happened: “I did not see that. I saw it come off the frame and over.”
Auger-Aliassime to Allensworth: It’s going to look ridiculous…
After realizing that his efforts were probably for nothing, Auger-Aliassime warned Allensworth to prepare himself for going viral over the “ridiculous” call.
“Man, You’re going to get out now, and it’s going to be everywhere, and it’s going to look ridiculous. I’m serious. It’s going to be crazy. And I know it’s not his place to make that call. It’s match point for him, it’s the win for him. But it’s your place to make that call,” Auger-Aliassime said.
Then, the supervisor came to the court to hear both sides. After some time, Auger-Aliassime made one last attempt to change Allensworth’s call.
“I’m going to ask you one last time, if you’re 100 percent sure, that you’re not going to leave here that you have no doubt, not an ounce of doubt in yourself that that was a clean volley winner. And if you tell me yes, I’ll shake his hand and the match will be over,” Auger-Aliassime asked.
And Allensworth responded by repeating that in his mind, everything was clean without any doubt: “This is how I saw it. If I had a doubt, I would tell you. If I go back and look at it after the match, and if I see I’m wrong, I’ll admit it to you.”
After being offered to go check out the situation with Allensworth after the match, Auger-Aliassime bluntly responded that it would be too late.
Moments after, Auger-Aliassime shook Draper’s hand and the match officially ended with the Briton earning a three-set win.
Nick Kyrgios gave his take while Draper defended himself
During the argument between Auger-Aliassime and Allensworth, Draper insisted that he didn’t know if his ball indeed hit the ground before going to Auger-Aliassime’s side. Also, the 28th-ranked Briton insisted that he would gladly replay the point if there was evidence that Auger-Aliassime’s were correct.
But after the footage of the situation was posted on social media, it was clear that Auger-Aliassime was 100 percent correct in his claims.
After watching it, Kyrgios slammed Allensworth but also appeared to take a dig at Draper and his claims.
“Mate. Horrible call, but every player knows you know exactly where you hit it hahaha ridiculous stuff,” Kyrgios wrote on X.
Mate. Horrible call, but every player knows you know exactly where you hit it hahaha ridiculous stuff
— Nicholas Kyrgios (@NickKyrgios) August 17, 2024
Meanwhile, Draper did everything he could in his post-match interview to explain and defend himself.
“To be honest, I serve-volleyed, he hit an amazing pass at my feet. I was shocked at the pass, I was too busy looking at him. I didn’t see what happened. I looked at the umpire straightaway to see if he called a double bounce or not. As a player, I’m trying to focus on what I’m doing, I can’t make that call if I’m not 100 percent,” Draper insisted.
“I said when the supervisor came on that if he said it was a double bounce and that he saw it clearly, I would have 100 percent replayed the point. The amount of times in the last 12 months where I’ve had to do the right thing sometimes… We’ve had a long battle out here, 2 1/2 hours; it would be ultra unfair on Felix if the match was won in that kind of way.”