In bizarre circumstances, David Goffin was denied a clear point against Rafael Nadal at the Monte Carlo Masters tournament.No.10 seed Goffin was 3-2 up and on game point when chair umpire Cedric Mourier ruled a Nadal shot was in, but the Hawkeye system, not used on clay, showed the ball was long.The point was replayed and Nadal went on to break back before winning 10 of the remaining 11 games to set up a meeting with fellow Spaniard Albert Ramos in Sunday's final after the 15th seed beat France's Lucas Pouille 6-3, 5-7, 6-1.The Monte Carlo Country Club crowd booed Mourier and a dejected Goffin did not shake the umpire's hand at the end of the match."I imagine the ball was out but I was on the other side, I could not see the mark," Nadal said.Goffin was absolutely furious at the call and started to shout at the umpire, claiming the ball was clearly out.This prompted the umpire to get out of his chair, come down to the court and show Goffin the mark.Yet, the umpire was pointing to the wrong mark, clearly of an earlier shot in the rally which was just on the line.Goffin protested and tried to show that the latest mark was obviously way behind the service line, yet umpire Mourier was having none of it, and ordered play to resume, awarding the point to Nadal in the process.
After this shocking error by the umpire, it poses the questions, do we need hawk-eye for clay court matches?
Even though it is clear to see the mark on clay, knowing which exact mark the last shot was can be ambiguous. It certainly was the case in this scenario as the umpire was mistaken for thinking the mark of the last shot was actually the mark of an earlier shot.
One has to feel for Goffin, especially as after that he completely lost the momentum of the match, crashing out of the tournament and being denied his first ever win over Nadal.