By: Chris Oddo
It’s a time-honored tradition: getting into arguments over ball marks on clay courts. And to those that wish that Hawk-Eye could come and rescue us all from the predictable litany of controversies that tennis players and umpires every year we say this: Don’t we love the controversies? Aren’t they entertaining, and in some old-world, throwback way, don’t we enjoy having at least one tradition in our sport that stands the test of time?
But we digress. We’re here to bring you the latest and greatest ball mark on clay controversy, which occurred at Rome on Sunday during Marton Fucsovic’s loss to Nikoloz Basilashvili on clay (see below):
This particular ball mark was controversial because it happened on a match point, but also because Fucsovics took a photo of the mark after the match and it drew the attention of fellow player Denis Shapovalov.
And it then caught the attention of Andrey Rublev (the ball really does look out -- how does umpire Gianluca Moscarella see this as in?).
Scroll down through the comments on the orginal post by Shapovalov and then contemplate YOUR original reply. Are you an old-school clay mark checker, or a new school technocrat searching for a clarity that may or may not exist?