Russian tennis star Veronika Kudermetova was unhappy with an Italian Open chair umpire and line judge, calling them ‘old’ and saying that the call was ‘a joke’.
The 26-year-old Kudermetova went head-to-head with China’s Qinwen Zheng on Tuesday, 16 May, and dominated in a 3-6, 6-3, 6-3 showdown.
However, during the quarter-final match, an altercation with officials took place and Kudermetova was left extremely unhappy when a decision was called against her.
It was an all-out battle in Rome – the Russian professional dropped her first set, but quickly recovered and continued to command the rest of the game.
Dispute over missed ball on the clay court
However, during the course of the tournament clash, Zheng hit a return shot which her opponent believed to be a missed ball.
While the world number five believed her opponent was out, the line judge and the chair umpire ruled it in.
Kudermetova was vocally unhappy with the pair, and questioned ‘who would pay’ for their mistake.
She said: “This your mistake, yeah? Who will take care about this one?”
“I mean, if I did mistake, you give me fine or something – This is like a joke.”
She continued to state: “This is like a joke. He is very old. I mean, who will pay for that mistake?”
Kudermetova crowned the winner
Despite the judgement favouring Zheng, the tennis star came out of the clay-based match victorious — so no real harm done, right?
Following the quarter-final win, she said in a post-court interview that her mindset has been key the last couple of weeks.
“The last few weeks I started to play better,” she said. “A lot of good wins. I started to play more consistently.
“I think I am a little more calm, focused on improving, and do the right things, because before I tried to play good and show results.”
She continued: “It’s also not easy to maintain that focus, that you just need to work, improve, stay calm and think positive.
“I try to follow that plan and for the moment it works.”
Following her recent Rome victory, the tennis star is now set to face Anhelina Kalinina in the Italian Open semifinals.
Ukraine-born Kalinina beat Brazil’s Beatriz Haddad Maia in the longest women’s tennis match of the year so far.
The hotly-contended game was won by the 26-year-old 6-7 (2), 7-6(6), 6-3.
The semi-final game between Kudermetova and Kalinina is set to take place on Friday, 19 May.
At the time of writing, it has not been confirmed who will be going head-to-head at the Italian Open in the second semi-final game.
But if Kudermetova does beat her opponent, then she will head into the Centre Court final on Saturday, 20 May.
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