Karolina Pliskova wasn’t happy about a crucial blown call in her second-round loss at the Italian Open, delivering an all-time post-match tantrum.
You couldn’t really blame the former world No. 1 for being upset, after her overhead at deuce was called out at 5-5 in the deciding third set of her match against Maria Sakkari of Greece. The point begins at 12:30 of the following video:
Here’s a closer look at the shot called out:
Unfortunate call for Pliskova. pic.twitter.com/qT3ZiVsn69
— Ashish TV (@Ashish__TV) May 16, 2018
Like all other clay tournaments, the Italian Open eschews the incredibly accurate Hawk-Eye replay system in favour of looking for marks on the court to find out where the ball landed.
It appears in this case the head umpire wasn’t able to find Pliskova’s mark, and the out call stood – giving Sakkari a break point.
Pliskova’s error on the ensuing rally allowed Sakkari to serve for the match and the 22-year-old converted – which is when the Czech really let loose.
I have never seen Pliskova like this. pic.twitter.com/nAI5OcMjdH
— Ashish TV (@Ashish__TV) May 16, 2018
Her fake-handshake-turned-umpire-chair-smash did quite a bit of damage when all was said and done.
The outburst overshadowed what was an otherwise great day for Sakkari, who fell behind 1-5 in the first set to the soon-to-be-fined world No. 5 before rallying for a 3-6, 6-3, 7-5 win, which was her first against a top-five player. The win included as good a point as you’re likely to see all tournament:
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