Video replay error: US Open umpire makes wrong decision

NEW YORK (AP) — The U.S. Tennis Association acknowledged Sunday that an incorrect decision was made on an illegal stroke during a U.S. Open third-round match between Anna Kalinskaya and Beatriz Haddad Maia the night before because the chair umpire was not shown the relevant replay by the video review officer.

“After the review was completed, an additional angle was shown on the broadcast,” USTA spokesman Brendan McIntyre said. “The chairman did not see this footage before making the call.”

McIntyre said the tournament referee’s office has “stressed” to those sending replays to officials during a match that all “appropriate” angles must be relayed.

The point in question came 11 minutes into the match at Louis Armstrong Stadium on Saturday night, when 15th-seeded Kalinskaya was leading 2-0 and 22nd-seeded Haddad Maia was serving deuce.

Kalinskaya, a Russian, hit a drop shot that Haddad Maia, a Brazilian, ran forward to try to reach. She hit the ball at exactly the same moment it landed on the court; the ball went over the net and Kalinskaya, apparently distracted because she thought something was wrong with Haddad Maia’s response, swung her racket awkwardly and missed.

The point was awarded to Haddad Maia. Kalinskaya was being challenged under a video review system that was added to some courts at last year’s US Open for just such disputes — not in-or-out line calls, but other things like whether there was an extra bounce, whether a player was obstructed or, as in this case, whether a ball deflected off someone’s racket and landed on that player’s side of the court before clearing the net. That’s known as a foul shot.

According to McIntyre, this was the fifth use of video review at this year’s US Open.

Most players believe that all tournaments should use this type of technology to assist referees in making decisions.

The game was stopped for four minutes while referee Miriam Bley reviewed a replay – which was also shown on the Armstrong scoreboards for spectators to see – of Haddad Maia making contact with the ball.

The problem, McIntyre explained, was that with that angle, Bley could only determine whether there was a double bounce before Haddad Maia made contact (it didn’t), but not whether the ball came off her racket and landed on her side of the court before flying over the net.

After Bley told the players that Haddad Maia would keep the point, Kalinskaya walked away shaking her head.

“Ladies and gentlemen, as we just saw in the video review, it appears to me that the call was correct, and the ball hit the racket before it hit the ground a second time,” Bley told the crowd, prompting some booing. “Therefore, the original call stands.”

Haddad Maia also took the next point and the match, and there were more boos as the two walked to the sidelines for the substitution.

Haddad Maia eventually won the match 6-3, 6-1.