LONDON Maybe Jordan Thompson’s grasping of his hat after it came off his head on a serve earned him a tip of the cap for winning a set-ending point at. The chair umpire disagreed with Luciano Darderi, his opponent on Friday, who felt that Thompson shouldn’t have been given that point.
I mean, I am aware of the restrictions, and I have had my hat fall off before. According to Thompson, an Australian rated 44th who will face next, “It hindered me, not him.” Therefore, I’m not sure what he was griping about.
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Thompson defeated Darderi 5-4, 40-15, using a hat trick to defeat the first set before winning 6-4, 6-4, 3-6, 6-3 to go to the All England Club’s fourth round for the first time.
Thompson landed on his follow-through on a second serve, and the backward baseball cap he was wearing slid off. After grabbing it with his left hand right away, Thompson used his right hand to continue wielding his racket for a point that ended up requiring seven strokes.
Thompson rushed to the net with his hat in hand and finished it with a backhand volley.
Has he previously carried that portion of his attire during a point?
Thompson remarked, “That’s the first time I can remember.”
Because of what transpired with Thompson’s chapeau, Darderi initially believed that chair umpire Mohamed Lahyani would halt the point and order a replay. Born in Argentina, the 59th-ranked Darderi, who plays for Italy, walked to the sidelines, pointing toward Thompson and arguing his argument with Lahyani.
Darderi once shouted, “It’s the rule!” and took off his own white hat.
However, Lahyani refused to move, so Darderi threw his racket in the direction of the sideline seat, causing several jeers from the Court 18 audience.
The rules deal with when a player’s hat hits the court, Thompson noted as Darderi and Lahyani’s discussion continued during the changeover between sets. Instead of whether it’s caught out of the air, he remarked, “Happened to me a few times.”
Playing a point while holding a hat didn’t feel normal to me. During his subsequent press conference, Darderi remarked that it was peculiar. However, it was only one point. The match was unaffected.
Both players undoubtedly agreed on that.
Thompson remarked, “It’s not like it was five-all in the fifth, deuce.” All points are significant, but they are what they are.
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Since 2002, Howard Fendrich has written about tennis for the AP. His stories can be found here. Additional AP tennis:
