On 26th May, the French Open was thrown into chaos when returning Aussie Thanasi Kokkinakis found himself locked in a fiery exchange with the chair umpire after a huge ace against Terence Atmane was suddenly questioned. The local Frenchman immediately challenged the call, prompting the umpire to climb down and inspect the clay mark, and after a lengthy debate, a serve first ruled a fault was dramatically overturned. Now, with memories still fresh of that bizarre incident, the same line-call controversy has erupted again as Frances Tiafoe traded strong words with Jaime Faria in another flashpoint that has the tournament buzzing.

The heated situation unfolded in the 5th set when Faria’s serve was called in, but Big Foe argued that it was out. The chair umpire checked the mark and confirmed it was in. Even the Hawkeye on TV showed it was just 1 mm in. As the game dragged past midnight local time in Paris, the Portuguese took a long break to exchange words with Tiafoe and later the chair umpire at the net.

Tiafoe used the pause to wind Faria up. He added, “Relax and play.” The umpire, mainly speaking to Faria, who had approached the net, insisted, “Okay, all of this has to stop, all of this.”

Tiafoe continued at the net, almost laughing as he told Faria, “Why don’t you quit trying to act like you’re tough? You’re not hard bro, just play.” He added, “You’re trying to act like you’re tough. You’re not hard bro. Just play. Just play. Enjoy the match. You’re sitting here saying this balls out. Just play.”

Faria shot back, “You’re disrespectful,” and returned to his baseline. However, later, he went to the umpire and said, “You see what he’s saying?” The umpire replied, “You were as well, so please… You act like you haven’t been saying anything about him or about me.”

Faria insisted, “I never said anything about him.” The umpire responded firmly, “Please let me do my job.” Even live on TNT broadcasting, John McEnroe weighed in, saying, “I don’t know what Faria is complaining about. He’s entitled to look at the mark for god’s sakes. Let’s see who it affects more. Just play! Hey, it’s late, midnight in Paris!”

Despite the minor call, tensions were clearly high at the court. After the match ended in 4-6, 6-7 (2), 7-6 (4), 6-1, 6-2, Tiafoe spoke in an on-court interview with fellow American Sloane Stephens. “I felt like I needed that too,” he added. 

“Because I’m up at the time but I’m still a little nervous. And he was chirping. He definitely gave me a lot of lip. He thought he was Ryan Garcia or something. So, I just had to definitely let him know, like, ‘Just chill out, bro. Just play. Just enjoy being in Paris and just play.’ It was a little back-and-forth. Nothing serious, but it definitely went in my favor.”

Even on the court as well, the situation was far calmer than anyone could imagine. The Portuguese qualifier had taken a two-set lead, clearly outplaying Tiafoe early in the match. But Tiafoe fought back, forcing the third set into a tiebreaker and eventually winning the fourth set to keep his tournament hopes alive.

Even the fourth set went more smoothly for Tiafoe, helped by a series of costly mistakes from the 22-year-old, including two key double faults that shifted momentum firmly toward the American.

Through all the heated back-and-forth on court, Tiafoe eventually sealed the match and advanced to the next round. But this wasn’t the only line-calling dispute highlighted this year, showing once again the importance of Electronic Line Calling (ELC) in modern tennis.

French Open line-call dispute ends with no handshake after the match

The WTA draw at this year’s Roland Garros also witnessed a major line-calling controversy, when Tamara Korpatsch and Wang Xinyu became involved in a heated dispute during their match.

The first flashpoint arrived when the Chinese ace crossed over to the German’s side of the court to inspect a ball mark. The move came after the chair umpire ruled that Wang’s shot had landed beyond the baseline.

The crowd quickly reacted to the incident and booed the 32nd seed for her actions. She was also handed a code violation for unsportsmanlike conduct by the chair umpire. The point carried significant importance in the match at the end. The ruling gave Korpatsch a set point on Wang’s serve at the closing stages of the opening set, making the disagreement even more tense.

Although play continued with the intervention of the chair umpire, the frustration did not disappear. The issue resurfaced once again when both players met at the net after the match had ended.

Instead of the customary end of the match handshake, the two WTA players walked away from each other. Afterwards, Korpatsch responded to suggestions from Wang that she was “not a fair player”. 

The German ace maintained that there had been two visible ball marks on the clay, one old and one new, but insisted both were out.

“The chair umpire came down and showed the mark, and it was out. Also on the TV, they showed the Hawk-Eye, and it was like 8mm out. She came on my side because she didn’t believe it,” Korpatsch said.

“At the end, we didn’t have a handshake because she told me she’s not OK with the ball marks. I didn’t offer her my hand because that’s not fair for me. She was unfair to come on my side, and I’m not an unfair player.” 

As the French Open continues, the debate surrounding line-calling remains a major talking point. With ELC absent from Roland Garros, several matches have already seen disputes that continue to divide opinions across the tennis world.