Karolina Pliskova had a legitimate gripe with officials when she had a point taken from her at a crucial juncture of her 3-6, 6-3, 7-5 loss to Maria Sakkari on Wednesday in Rome. But her reaction after the match was perhaps a bit over the top. Watch as Pliskova fakes a handshake with the umpire then proceeds to smash her racquet against the chair.
Pliskova suffered a really tough call at 5-all, deuce, where the line umpire made an out call on a ball that was later shown to be very much in. Umpire Marta Mrozinska later said she “saw it out” and there was nothing that the supervisor could do when she was called out to the court.
She did not check the mark or ask the line umpire in question to show her what she saw (though they did have a conversation).
Sakkari did offer to replay the point during the dialog that ensued, but it was clear that Pliskova wanted—and deserved—to be awarded the point.
So what does it all mean?
Once again we have a clear argument for using Hawk-Eye for disputed calls on clay. A simple peek at the below replay would have solved this issue—and saved the umpire’s chair. Whether there was Hawk-Eye or not, this call should not have been missed. Nor should Pliskova have done what she did to the umpire's chair.
Pliskova lost the next point and proceeded to lose the match before unleashing her tirade on the umpire’s chair.
After the match Pliskova's twin sister Kristyna echoed the familie's frustration with the call on Twitter.