After winning the bronze-medal match in the doubles event at the Paris Olympics with Tommy Paul, Taylor Fritz wanted to get some wins under his belt before the US Open. However, he started his North American hard court swing with a second-round exit in the Canadian Open. Even in Cincinnati, he saw a similar fate through a shocking defeat to Brandon Nakashima in the first round. Irrespective of the result of that match, a controversial moment surrounding a line call, has now become the talk of the town. Guess who joined Fritz to portray his amazement surrounding the whole incident?

The incident took place when the score was at 6-4, 2-3 with Nakashima taking the first set and Fritz trying to get a grip of this match in the second. Fritz had an opportunity to secure a crucial break point at 30-all on Nakashima’s serve. However, during an intense rally, one of Nakashima’s return visibly looked way out of the line but was not flagged by the electronic calling system and the players kept on playing until a sudden interruption by the chair umpire.

Fritz looked a bit bemused by this delay in calling and voiced his frustration towards the umpire. However, the umpire said that the shot would’ve been reviewed only if they had stopped the point immediately.

Fritz was a bit surprised with this statement by the chair umpire and he said it wasn’t his responsibility to stop the play, especially when they have the electronic line calling system. After looking at the whole incident, Denis Shapovalov shared a post by captioning, “If you would have stopped the point. I can’t anymore.” He was also surprised with the chair umpire’s take on this incident. Later on, Fritz vented out his frustration to Shapovalov by commenting, “Playing with automatic line calling and the guy wants me to stop the point man.”

For those who are unaware, both of these players have now become a victim of harsh umpiring. Fritz lost the match by 4-6, 6-4, 6(4)-7, but what had happened with Shapovalov?

Taylor Fritz joins Denis Shapovalov on becoming a victim of harsh umpiring

Shapovalov suffered through a difficult umpiring incident at the Citi Open. The Canadian tennis star made the headline for losing the QF match by default against Ben Shelton. He was accused of engaging in a heated exchange with a spectator in the stands. Later on, even the Canadian tennis star gave his justification on social media, saying how the whole incident brought on enormous stress to his life.

Shapovalov wrote, “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.” He said although he’s thankful for the quick decision to reinstate his points and prize money he felt it was a bit harsh on him.

With the early exits from the Canadian Open and Cincinnati Masters, Fritz’s chances for qualification at the 2024 ATP Finals are now in danger. He will next feature at the US Open and needs to make a deep run to get back on track. We need to wait for a few more days to see if he can come back from these setbacks.