Tennis TV on social media called it the most controversial match point in history, and a debate broke out about it online. Here are some facts and context.
Umpire Greg Allensworth disqualified Denis Shapovalov (best friend of Felix Auger-Aliassime) after Shapovalov, down match point, abused a fan and his racquet, and then screamed at the tournament referee: “F—-you!”
Shapovalov, instead of blaming himself for his disqualification and loss, demanded the ATP give back his earnings and rankings points. While ATP returned those, they fined Shapovalov $36,400 for his outburst. Shapovalov, who moved up 30 points to 106 in the world, continued his tirade against tour officials. “As you can imagine it’s been an extremely stressful time for me,” Shapovalov posted on X (formerly Twitter). “I continue to feel shocked and disappointed over the decision to disqualify me from my match against Ben in Washington. It was not fair to me, him or anyone that was there to watch the match.”
About a week later, the ATP assigned umpire Allensworth to officiate Auger-Aliassime’s round-of-16 match against Jack Draper at the Western and Southern Open outside Cincinnati. Playing his second match of the day, Auger-Aliassime double-faulted 12 times, dropped his serve late in the third set and was down match point to Draper, whose serve had dominated Felix throughout the second and third sets. Draper attempted a tricky half-volley which popped up, hit the net and bounced over. Auger-Aliassime initially sprinted toward the shot but then ran away as if he expected umpire Allensworth to give him the point.
But Allensworth declared game, set and match for Draper. Instead of coming forward to shake Draper’s hand, Auger-Aliassime created four minutes of drama which threw shade upon Draper, the umpire, the tournament referee and the ATP.
Auger-Aliassime, frustrated and soaked in sweat, insisted he was sure that Draper’s shot hit the court before bouncing over the net. “That’s horrendous what you just did,” he complained. Though he knew that umpire Allensworth didn’t have access to video replay, Auger-Aliassime demanded that Allensworth change the call and give him the point, which would have led to deuce on Draper’s serve at 5-4 in the third set. “It’s going to look ridiculous,” said Auger-Aliassime. “It’s going to be crazy.”
But Allensworth could only call what he could see, and he maintained that he didn’t see any bounce, double-hit or illegal shot.
Draper, for his part, immediately offered to replay the point, and repeated his offer to ATP Supervisor Roland Herfel. But Allensworth and Herfel maintained that they couldn’t see anything illegal. Allensworth even promised to apologize to Felix later if he got the call wrong. Felix finally relented, and Draper embraced him.
Tennis players, fans and media praised Felix for being “classy” while lambasting Allensworth for missing the call and Draper for refusing to concede the point.
But after a closer look at replays, it’s still not clear if Draper’s half-volley was legal or not. So far, nobody has presented the type of overwhelming, indisputable and conclusive evidence that would overturn a call in the NFL or NBA.
Without a doubt, it was a close call either way, and Allensworth apparently chose to err on the side of letting the players decide the outcome. Felix, who was sprinting forward near the baseline, probably couldn’t clearly see what happened across the court on the other side of the net. Draper, who was lunging for a half-volley, was also in no position to suddenly become an impartial umpire on his own attempt at a tricky half-volley after three hours of battle in heat and humidity.
But Andy Roddick, Nick Kyrgios and several Canadian sports journalists and former players slammed Draper for refusing to give away his match point. This would be ridiculous in almost any other sport. It would be like demanding LeBron James blow the whistle on himself for pushing off or traveling, or that soccer players raise their hands to penalize themselves for offside or hand ball, or that NFL players throw the flag on themselves for holding or pass interference, or that NHL players penalize themselves for hooking or slashing.
Many such as former Wimbledon doubles champion Vasek Pospisil praised “classy” Felix for arguing his point for 4 minutes while refraining from a Shapovalov-style tantrum. Some hoped that the ATP would give Felix an award for good sportsmanship.
Ultimately, Auger-Aliassime is responsible for this particular incident. He put himself down match point by double-faulting 12 times and dropping serve late in the 3rd set. Instead of running to cover Draper’s half-volley, Felix ran away and expected the umpire to favor him. Instead of accepting defeat and shaking hands, he launched a tirade against Allensworth, Draper and the tournament referee.
Felix knew they didn’t have the benefit of video replay, and thus didn’t have grounds to change the call. Did he berate Allensworth to get back at him for disqualifying his pal Shapovalov days earlier? Only Felix knows that. Felix also stole Draper’s thunder at match point. Instead of celebrating, Draper had to endure more than 24 hours of relentless criticism on social media that will likely damage his ability to earn income from sponsorships and endorsements.
Felix put Draper in a corner where he would be dammed for not conceding the point, or dammed for conceding it if he then went on to lose the match. Is it “good sportsmanship” to demand your opponent give you the point? Is it “classy” for a privileged young Canadian who has won more than $13 million to publicly humiliate a low-paid umpire? Or is it cry-bullying, where someone plays the victim in order to solicit sympathy while intimidating others?
None of this gives Auger-Aliassime the higher moral ground. Auger-Aliassime, like his pal Shapovalov, has shown a tendency to evade responsibility and to shift blame onto others to deflect attention away from his own mistakes or failures. This is not the type of “champions mentality” shown by successful Canadian women such as Bianca Andreescu or Leylah Fernandez, who tend to take responsibility for their losses rather than blaming others.
Auger-Aliassime, ranked 19th in the world at age 24, still hasn’t apologized to Allensworth or Draper at press time. Instead, Felix posted on X: “Unfortunate ending of my tournament here in Cincinnati but I hope we find a way to deal with these situations in a more objective way going forward.”
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