Wimbledon contender Maria Sakkari accused a German umpire of being biased towards her German opponent Jule Niemeier after losing a point at the Bad Homburg Open. World No 9 Sakkari won the opening set of the encounter but went on to lose the match following a third-set tiebreak.
Sakkari, who was dumped out of the French Open by Varvara Gracheva in the first round last month, faced Niemeier in her final tournament before Wimbledon after Elisabetta Cocciaretto withdrew due to illness.
And the 28-year-old held the upper hand early on as she cruised through the first set to take it 6-2.
But Niemeier hit back in the second set and unleashed a string of huge forehands and clever volleys to win six of eight games and set up a deciding set.
The two players went toe-to-toe in the early part of the third set, with Sakkari believing she had drawn level at 2-2 after a shot from Niemeier had been called out.
The call was challenged by Niemeier, however, with replays showing the ball had in fact landed on the outside of the line.
But instead of allowing the point to be played again, the umpire handed the point to his compatriot as the follow up shot from Sakkari had landed outside of the court. And the Greek star was furious.
“Why do you say that, it was out,” exclaimed Sakkari. “It was out and I hit it like this, on the side.” The umpire informed the player that the call didn’t affect her shot and it was his judgement whether the point needed to be replayed.
And Sakkari hit back: “Of course, you’re German – you’re going to…” The ace was then cut off by booing from the crowd, who were clearly annoyed by her accusation.
The former French Open and US Open semi-finalist then doubled down on her allegations as he added: “You think I don’t know what’s happening here? You think I was born yesterday?”
The incident seemed to derail Sakkari as she went on to lose the match 6-2, 2-6, 6-7. And she’ll be under pressure to improve ahead of Wimbledon as she has now lost four matches in a row.
Sakkari has reached the third round of Wimbledon on three occasions but was knocked out by Marta Kostyuk in the first round last year, despite bagelling her Ukrainian opponent in the first set.
Aryna Sabalenka, Iga Swiatek and Elena Rybakina are currently the three frontrunners to win the tournament, which is due to get underway on Monday.