Monte Carlo to stick with human linespeople despite Novak Djokovic line controversy

Shahida Jacobs
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Novak Djokovic on clay
Novak Djokovic during a match

Monte Carlo Masters Tournament Director David Massey insists they will continue to “give priority to humans” in terms of line calling despite last week’s controversial incident involving Novak Djokovic.

World No 1 Djokovic took on Lorenzo Musetti in the third round of the ATP Masters 1000 event on Wednesday and things got incredibly heated during the second set.

The top seed was 6-4, 4-3 up with Musetti serving when all hell broke loose after a forehand from the Italian appeared to go long with even the commentator saying “I thought it was long”. However, there was no call from the linesperson and chair umpire Aurelie Tourte also didn’t overrule the initial call.

Tourte eventually came down to check the mark and had a long argument with Djokovic over the mark.

“It is this,” she said, but Djokovic responded: “Where? Where?”

“That is the only mark,” the reply came. “For me, it is just there… it is the only mark…for me, it touched the line. It touched the line…that is the only mark I have.”

Djokovic answered: “But where is the mark? You are not showing me the mark.”

Tourte then hit back saying: “For me, that is where the ball bounced – that is all I have.

“I don’t see the mark you are showing me, Novak…I don’t have any other mark. I don’t have the mark and I ask him [the linesperson] and he does not have it either…I ask him to show me and he doesn’t.”

The point was eventually awarded to Musetti, but Hawk-Eye – which is not used at clay-court events – proved that the ball was in fact long.

Djokovic lost his cool as he smashed too rackets and was roundly booed by the crowd, but despite that incident Monte Carlo chief Massey insisted during his post-tournament press conference that the event will continue to use linespeople.

“We want to give priority to humans. I know ATP always wants to find the best system to avoid errors. On clay you can see the mark,” he said.

“I know Madrid has been using Foxtenn for a long time. We are going to watch this and study this for the future. ATP might even impose this on us in the future, but for the time being, we are waiting and we are very satisfied with our human linesmen.”

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