“Maybe it wasn’t on the umpire’s tablet, but it was on the big screens where they’re showing multiple different angles… I’m pleased the original call stood and I got the point,” Andy Murray said after his win over Corentin Moutet in at the 2023 US Open when the umpire’s tablet didn’t work after a challenge. And after a rocky debut for VAR at the US Open that year, fast forward to now, and the problems still haven’t gone away.

Just moments ago, @TennisTV posted a clip on X with the caption, “More VAR drama in Turin 👀 #NittoATPFinals.”  Henry Patten and Harri Heliovaara defeated hometown favorites Simone Bolelli and Andrea Vavassori 6-4, 6-3 in just 1 hour and 16 minutes to reach the Nitto ATP Finals championship match. But overshadowing the win was controversial video review involving Bolelli and Vavassori that immediately reignited the conversation around VAR.

In the clip, after a ball landed on Bolelli’s side, the chair umpire called a “Touch.” The chair umpire then announced that Andrea Vavassori had requested a video review to check whether Bolelli had actually made contact with the ball. Even the announcer noted how unclear the footage was, saying, “It is close to the t-shirt… It’s just the frames, maybe.”

As the review continued, the chair umpire told Bolelli, “Simone, it looks on this one that it’s touching your shirt. On this last one from the net camera, it looks like the shirt…” prompting Vavassori to respond, “But it’s not changing the direction.” The umpire replied, “I know it’s not changing the direction, I understand boys, but what I see here…” and Vavassori insisted, “I think everyone sees that it doesn’t touch anything.”

Finally, the chair umpire explained, “No, I understand what you’re saying, but on that frame we see the ball touching the shirt a little bit. So I have to stay with my call.” The announcer then confirmed the decision, saying, “In the video review, we can see the ball touching a little bit of the shirt… otherwise the call is confirmed.”

Anyway, Henry Patten summed things up simply after the win, saying Bolelli and Vavassori are “two very good servers” and admitting that he and Harri Heliovaara have “struggled returning against them in the past.” He added that there’s “no secret, just lots of hard work and lots of repetitions.” And their strong start showed exactly that, as they broke in the third game for a 2-1 lead and held comfortably, closing out the first set with a hold at love.

They carried that momentum into the second set, converting their third break point in the third game for another 2-1 lead. Bolelli and Vavassori fought to stay in it, saving three break points in the fifth game, but couldn’t capitalize on their own chance in the next one. Patten and Heliovaara eventually finished the match with another break on their second match point, wrapping things up in 76 minutes.

The stats moreover backed up their dominance, with the pair winning 87% of their first-serve points and improving to a 3–1 head-to-head record against Bolelli and Vavassori. Next, they’ll face either Year-End Doubles No. 1 Julian Cash and Lloyd Glasspool or Joe Salisbury and Neal Skupski. But zooming out, this latest incident only adds to the year’s ongoing VAR frustrations, especially after Alexander Bublik found himself at the center of VAR drama during the Dubai Tennis Championships earlier this season. So what exactly happened?

Tennis’ first-ever VAR moment sparks instant chaos

Felix Auger-Aliassime and Alexander Bublik were locked in a tense first-set tiebreak when, at 6-6, Felix tried to return a difficult shot but felt distracted by a ball boy who moved too early. He requested a video review, and the chair umpire agreed the interference was enough to replay the point.

But with Bublik involved, things were never going to stay normal. On the replayed point, he fired an underhand second-serve ace and celebrated with theatrical flair, putting his hand to his ear and gesturing for Felix to review that too. In the end, Felix saved the set point and won the set after a Bublik double fault, then immediately mocked Bublik’s earlier celebration, urging the crowd to get loud just as the Kazakh had done seconds before.

That said, do you think VAR is helping tennis or creating more confusion after incidents like the Bolelli-Vavassori review? And most importantly, after seeing how VAR influenced both matches and momentum, do you feel the system needs a major upgrade before it becomes standard across the tour?