We’re all glued to our television screens to watch the ongoing 2023 French Open taking place in Paris, France right now. And while there’s been some good tennis on display in the first couple of days itself, we got to see a rare penalty being given to one of the players in Round 1 of the men’s draw of the competition today.
This was a game between Benoit Paire and Cameron Norrie with the latter being the obvious favourite to win but the crowd being behind Paire as he’s one of the few local boys in the men’s competition. The incident took place in the second set when Norrie was penalised by the chair umpire for a ‘hindrance’ which wasn’t really so obvious when we looked at it a few times.
Cameron Norrie gets hindrance penalty
Norrie won the first set 7-5 and in the second set, players were 1-1 and 30-30 on Norrie’s serve when the chair umpire stopped an ongoing point and called out ‘HINDRANCE’. Norrie initially celebrated quietly as he thought he had won the point, only to look at the umpire and realise that he had lost the point because of an apparent hindrance caused by a shout.
As per the umpire, Norrie had shouted ‘Out’ or ‘Yay’ so as to indicate he had won the point when the point was actually still happening. Norrie took it in his stride and accepted the penalty even though the initial replays didn’t suggest any sort of shout from the Great Britain player. Clearly, this was an error from the umpire, and a crucial one too.
ALSO SEE: List of the top online sports betting websites
We say crucial because Paire grabbed a break point and he made the most of it, breaking Norrie to go 2-1 up in the second set. He then held his serve in the next game to go 3-1 up and start an apparent comeback in the match. Norrie still didn’t throw a fit even though there seemed to be a complete momentum shift after that wrong call by the umpire.
PAIRE BREAKS
Oh wow. Umpire Nico Helwerth calls Cam Norrie for a hindrance after he thought he shouted "yeah" during the point at 30-30, and Benoit Paire whacks the next second serve for a winner.#RolandGarros
— James Gray (@jamesgraysport) May 29, 2023
What did I just witness in the Paire vs Norrie match??? 😂😂. Hindrance call on Norrie on a ball that was on his side of the net & very clearly out but he said “Yes” literally right before it hit the dirt. Worst hindrance call I’ve seen since Serena back in the day. #RolandGarros
— Hance (@SirHanceAlot) May 29, 2023
Everyone on social media also found it to be a clear error, describing it as ‘horrible’ and the worst call they’ve seen, including using words like astonishing and shocking. Regardless, the match went on and we hope to not see such howlers in the matches and days to come in the Roland Garros 2023 edition. At the time of us writing this, Paire went 5-3 up in the second set.
For similar updates from 2023 French Open and other tennis news from around the world, stay tuned to ReadScoops.com…
Register on Odds96 and get a 300% first deposit bonus up to 1 Lakh
