John McEnroe, commentating for the BBC, immediately weighed in on a bizarre incident during the Wimbledon quarter-final between Jan-Lennard Struff and Jannik Sinner. The American legend used the moment to call for the introduction of a VAR-style review system in tennis.
Unusual Let Disrupts Key Point
Top seed Sinner held break point on Struff's serve early in the second set when a spare ball tumbled out of the German's pocket during the rally. The umpire declared a let, granting Struff another opportunity to hold serve. Under the rules, the umpire can award the point to the opponent if the infringement is deemed intentional, but Struff was given the benefit of the doubt.
"The ball fell out of his pocket. First [time it happens] they play a let, then second time he loses the point," McEnroe said. After a replay showed the ball dropping, he added: "Let's see if he did it on purpose... no." He then joked: "It's a long rally! I need a break here. Whoops. I'm probably not going to win this point!"
Commentators Question the Rule
Fellow BBC commentator Andrew Castle highlighted the disadvantage for Sinner: "That is a tremendous disadvantage for Sinner. He loses the point because of hindrance if that happens again. Sew the pocket up or lose the point. He's actually stuffing the ball further down."
McEnroe concluded his analysis by proposing a video review system: "They should go to video replay in the future, and see if the person's done it deliberately. Now, in that case, it was not deliberate." When Castle noted that sufficient monitoring technology exists, McEnroe drew a World Cup parallel: "Like France-Paraguay when the guy tried to mess them shooting up the penalty kick. That's weak, man."
Impact on the Match
The BBC commentary team indicated the regulation is more typically enforced when a player's hat comes off during a point. McEnroe noted he had seen this type of incident before but only infrequently. Following the let-off, Struff saved the break point and held serve to go 1-0 up in the second set. Sinner then broke back but was immediately broken again.
"Why would it be a hindrance on the second time it happens and not the first?" Castle questioned after Struff held serve. "That has materially affected this match at this point." Once the defending champion broke serve, the BBC suggested he was beginning to assert dominance, but the match remained close.
Struff on German Grass Success
After his fourth-round win, Struff credited German grass-court tournaments for helping players from his country flourish on the surface. "We have as well in Germany great grass court tournaments leading into Wimbledon, as well. We have Stuttgart, Halle. On the women's side I think Berlin, Bad Homburg. It's amazing events. That helps us," he said. "I think in the past we had great success here for some German players, Boris [Becker], Steffi [Graf], [Michael] Stich, to name a few. Yeah, amazing. It's good that Germans [are getting] good results."
