Foot fault
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- August
- 26
Amazing moment from Marat Safin’s five-set win over Vincent Spadea this afternoon. Serving at 4-5, up two sets to one, Safin was called for a conventional foot fault on the first point. Later it was deuce, and Safin was called for another foot fault — this time from the linesman on the opposite end of the court.
Apparently, Safin had crossed the imaginary center line of the baseline with his back foot as he started to serve. He obviously wasn’t aware of the rule — neither was commentator John McEnroe, by the way — because he later told the on-court interviewer: “I was fighting with the chair umpire, the linesman, because they were wrong of course.”
Anyway, Safin yells, “What the” and thankfully doesn’t complete the thought. He then walks over to the sideline and sits down in his chair, refusing to get up. Finally he gets back on teh court and loses the next point, which is set point. Now, before the next set, he goes into the tunnel to argue with tournament referee Brian Earley.
Perhaps unlike in years past, Safin keeps it together mentally and defeats Spadea, the second-oldest player in the draw, to improve to 28-12 in five-set matches. I’ll be back later with some great quotes from the press conference.
This entry was posted
on Tuesday, August 26th, 2008 at 5:17 pm by Harold Gutmann.
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