Belgian tennis player Alison Van Uytvanck lost to Dominika Cibulkova 3-6, 6-3, 8-6 in the second round at Wimbledon Wednesday, and a terrible penalty called by the chair umpire really hurt her chances of winning the match.
Van Uytanck was serving up 5-3 in the third set. She had just won a point to make it deuce, and the chair umpire called a time violation on her as she was preparing to serve. The umpire’s decision to call the time violation took away Van Uytvanck’s first serve and forced her to hit a second serve. She spun in a weak serve and Cibulkova pulverized the return up the line to win the point and get the advantage. Cibulkova won the next point to make it 4-5 in the third, then she held serve to make it 5-5. Cibulkova eventually won the set 8-6 to give her the match.
ESPN went to a commercial after the game ended, but when they returned, the announcers said Van Uytvanck dropped an F-bomb after losing the game. Tennis writer Chris Goldsmith says Van Uytvanck also threw her racquet:
Cibulkova breaks.. the umpire awful decision. that would not have happened if it was Domi.. Van Uytvanck shouts "f**king" and throws racquet
— Chris Goldsmith (@TheTennisTalker) June 25, 2014
I just can’t believe an umpire would choose to call that violation at that time in the match, especially considering that Van Uytanck was readying to serve. It’s not like she was just hanging out behind the baseline toweling off and taking her sweet time as she rested and planned out her next point. She was just about to serve when the violation was called. Just terrible timing.
