Great Britain defeated Greece in their Fed Cup tie but Greek player Maria Sakkari criticized the umpires after that match-up for poor officiating calling it “the worst I have ever seen in my life”.
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Sakkari has lampooned the line judges who officiated the game which she lost to Johanna Konta of Britain.
The event which was being held for the first in Britain in 26 years was marred by controversy due to controversial calls made by match umpires.
Greece had earlier lost the first game in the Group A tie against Britain but things came to a head in the second match of the day when Sakkari squared up against Konta with the Greeks looking to make amends after the first defeat.
It was a game Greece eventually lost after questionable match calls made by the officials.
It appears that the failure to introduce Hawk eye technology into line reviews has brought the professionalism of match officials under the spotlight after several calls went against both teams with the Greeks more agitated of the two after suffering consecutive losses.
A clearly exasperated Sakkari said:
“This is unacceptable. They were making a lot of mistakes. We cannot have amateurs.”
The Britons also had their own axe to grind with the presiding umpires but won’t read too much into it after winning the Group A tie.
Sakkari’s teamate, world number 171, Valentini Grammatikopoulos also derided the quality of officiating after losing the first match in three sets to British number 2 Katie Boulter. Valentini described the officiating as “unfair”.
Match controversies are not new in tennis with a recent one coming to mind last year during the US Open final involving Serena Williams and eventual winner, Naomi Osaka.
Organizers of the Fed Cup will hope subsequent matches at the tournament generate no further unfavorable incidences as the competition progresses into it’s latter stages.
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