Controversy has erupted at the Copa Colsanitas in Colombia after a player lost a game in her match due to incorrect scoring and was then told by the tournament supervisor to ‘focus more.’
Australia’s Astra Sharma was playing Giulia Gatto-Monticone in the first round of the WTA 250 event on Tuesday. With both players winning a set each, the confusion occurred during the decider at 1-1. Sharma was 30-0 up on Monticone’s serve and on the following point she won another point which should have elevated her to 40-0. However, umpire Luis David Armenta Castro instead said the score was 30-15 in the Italian’s favour who went on to win the game two points later.
At the time of the incident, neither player appeared to be caught off guard by Castro’s scoring. Although after her match world No.134 Sharma said she was ‘outraged’ by the officiating.
“This was outrageous… I was told he was not sure of the score but since I couldn’t tell him how I won the points I could not delay the match arguing with him,” she wrote on Twitter.
The 25-year-old said she spoke with tournament supervisor Cristina Romero about the incident following their match. Alleging that she was told by Romero that she should have been focusing more on the score at the time. Implying that the player was to some degree at fault of the error.
“WTA supervisor said I should learn my lesson and focus more on the score instead of my tennis in the future my confusion is not an excuse,” she said.
Sharma’s situation has also prompted reaction from other players on the Tour. Coco Vandeweghe commented ‘oh wow’ on the video of the scoring and world No.7 doubles player Barbora Krejcikova wrote ‘UNREAL – both score and supervisor’s reaction.’ Although the strongest reaction was from fellow Australian player Ellen Perez.
“There’s actually no excuse for this ridiculous mistake by the umpire and for the supervisor to defend it and blame the player for not focusing on the score is disgusting. Shame on you! So sick of umpires being a contributing factor to the outcome of matches,” said Perez.
Monticone went on to win the match 4-6, 7-5, 6-1, and will play fifth seed Tamara Zidanšek in the second round. The WTA has so far not commented on the match.
