Drama as umpire overrules herself after player loses shoe at Australian Open

Wed, 17 Jan, 2018 - 19:09

Steve Neville

The Australian Open had an unusual controversy this morning when a player losing his shoe during a point resulted in the umpire over-ruling herself.

Alexandr Dolgopolov was taking on Matthew Ebden in the second-round of the first Grand Slam of the year.

With Dolgopolov rushing to get on the end of Ebden’s drop shot in the second set, his shoe came off in the process.

Ebden returned the shot but the umpire called for the shot to be re-played. That was until she overruled herself saying, "I was too quick to call the let. It shouldn’t have been a let."

Dolgopolov, who can be heard saying "this is a joke", called for the tournament supervisor, Soeren Friemel, to discuss the matter.

Friemel agreed that the umpire overruling herself was the correct call as Dolgopolov’s shoe falling off meant he obstructed play, and should lose the point.