First stubborn, then out
A world-class doubles produces two curious marathons
07/08/2022, 11:55 am
Exciting hours for the doubles team Rajeev Ram and Joe Salisbury at the tennis tournament in Wimbledon: The world-class duo delivered two marathons in a row. Once it causes a scandal, the second time it experiences a sporting nightmare.
Rajeev Ram and Joe Salisbury are one of the best doubles teams in the tennis world, the duo leads the world rankings, together they have won two Grand Slam titles since 2019 and were in the final of the 2021 season for the unofficial double world championship title. But the last two days of Wimbledon will surely be remembered by the successful tennis pros. And not in the best. Because the tournament ended earlier than hoped and at the same time later than it looked in the meantime.
First there was the quarter-finals on Tuesday, in which the 2021 US Open winners caused a scandal – and in the meantime refused to continue playing. When the score was 5: 5, Ram and Salisbury believed they might have taken the service game from the French duo Nicolas Mahut and Édouard Roger-Vasselin, which might have decided the set. No, they didn’t believe it, they were sure. They saw a French ball clearly behind the baseline, but the electronic Hawk-Eye system had a different opinion: The ball still scratched the line, reported the system, which has been in use on the courts of the world’s most important tournaments since 2006.
And that made Ram/Salisbury really angry: The decision was “absolutely ridiculous”, the ball was “definitely not” good. Chair umpire Fergus Murphy, who joined the electronic decision-making process, should switch off the “hawk eye” immediately, otherwise the game will not continue, the American-British duo raged. “We’re shutting down the machine. We’re not in the future here, man,” Ram demanded. “You know it’s wrong. Can you get your superior?” The supervisor appeared, but the decision remained the same – and the Hawk-Eye was not switched off either. However, the referee promised to investigate whether the system correctly displayed the close ball.
“Everyone should have their eyes checked”
The top duo then continued playing, but instead of being able to celebrate the break, Ram/Salisbury later lost the set in the tie-break, very annoyed. “Obviously we were quite upset about it, quite frustrated. We should have served to win the set. Some people get angry. It just makes me angry and I don’t react very well to it. I managed to get it out of my head ‘ Salisbury reported on his condition at the end of the second set.
At the beginning of the third set, his partner Rajeev Ram shook his head several times in his chair, still visibly irritated by the end of the second round. After the third game, the supervisor came back on the court and announced to the unbelieving tennis pros that the electronic system had read everything correctly. At some point the crisis was overcome, after 3 hours and 17 minutes the duo, who were seeded in 1st position, made it into the semi-finals with a score of 6:3, 6:7 (1:7), 6:1, 3:6, 6:4 a.
“I think this is our first five-set win,” said Salisbury. “We played five sets a few years ago and lost 13:12 in the fifth set. I think we were just really happy that we lasted the whole game.” With a view to the excitement of the game, the number one in the double world rankings was also relaxed: “We thought he was far off. We couldn’t even believe that they challenged him. I think there is a possibility that we all got it wrong – the linesman, the umpire, us,” said Salisbury with a grin. “Maybe we should all get our eyes checked.”
“How could they not convert the fifth match point?”
Things went really well for Ram/Salisbury in the semifinals. At least for a very, very long time: the two won 6: 3 against the Australian duo Matthew Ebden and Max Purcell, 7: 6 the second and in the third set match balls rained down in the tie-break: Ram and Salisbury had five chances to end the match quickly and make it perfect for the final. And five times they failed. A double thriller developed on court number 1 on the venerable Church Road, at the end of which there was a remarkable race to catch up. On the second match point, Ram missed a short forehand, on the fourth Salisbury made a double fault, “and the two still have to wonder how they couldn’t convert the fifth,” says wimbledon.com. “Ram hit a serve return straight at Purcell at net, who instinctively got his racquet in the way and watched the ball fly off the edge of the frame at a sharp angle for a clean winner.”
The Australians finally won the tiebreak 11:9, after that things went quickly: 3:6 6:7 (1:7) 7:6 (11:9), 6:4, 6:2 at the end of the second strange one Ram/Salisbury marathons within 48 hours for Purcell/Ebden. In the shadow of the center court, the others cheered after 3 hours and 59 minutes, Ram and Salisbury had to accept a bitter defeat in dismay. It was the second against the Australians, and they lost out in the semi-finals of the Australian Open in January. Purcell and Ebden now face Mate Pavic and Nikola Mektic in their second Grand Slam final of the season. The defending champions prevailed against Colombians Juan Sebastian Cabal and Robert Farah after 4 hours and 22 minutes in the Champions tie-break of the fifth set.