Barcelona Open star calls for VAR during fiery row with umpire

Casper Ruud called for VAR after rowing with the umpire

Casper Ruud called for VAR to be introduced after arguing with the umpire at the Barcelona Open. The world No. 6 thought that he was affected by a hindrance during his match against Alexandre Muller but the chair official claimed that Ruud wasn’t affected by a call from a linesperson.

Ruud wasn’t happy when the umpire ruled against him during his opening match in Barcelona. The 25-year-old was cruising against Muller, leading by a set and a break when he had a run-in with the umpire.

The third seed had a game point at 4-2 when his opponent sent the ball wide, but the call came late as Ruud dumped the ball into the net. The chair official took to the court to confirm that Muller’s shot was out but he ruled that Muller still won the point because Ruud was going to put the ball in the net regardless.

“Your ball went into the net. That didn’t hinder you, your ball went straight into the net. It’s a matter of whether it affected you or not. In my opinion it didn’t affect you that’s why I’m giving him the point,” Jaume Campistol told Ruud.

Casper Ruud continued to probe the umpire at the changeover

“So it doesn’t matter if he called it before I hit it?” Ruud questioned. But the umpire held firm on his decision and replied: “Well in this case, no. Because you didn’t have a chance to play it. That’s why. Still, your ball went into the net.”

The world No. 6 still held serve and raised the issue again during the next changeover. “This rule is solely based on your judgement from the chair?” he asked, approaching his bench. “It’s whether the ball affected you or not and it’s our judgement,” Campistol said.

But Ruud wasn’t satisfied and explained his issue with the rule. He continued: “I asked is it your judgement or is it any way, because sometimes they say if the line umpire calls it before you make contact you say replay. It’s different every time so we don’t understand what the rule is.”

Casper Ruud asked for VAR to be introduced instead of trusting an umpire’s judgement

The pair continued to go back and forth as Ruud wanted to be sure that the umpire’s judgement was the only one that mattered in deciding whether or not he had been hindered. “Whether you were hindered or not? Yes. And I can be right or wrong but it’s our judgement,” the chair official clarified.

But the three-time Grand Slam finalist wasn’t happy with that rule, calling for VAR to be introduced instead. He added: “There should be a way to challenge this. Like VAR or whatever, we have everything else but not this.”

The spat appeared to have an effect on Ruud as he was broken while serving for the match. But he immediately broke Muller in the next game to seal a 6-3 6-4 victory.