After more than four hours of fighting under the dodger, Arthur Rinderknech finally lost in the first round of the Australian Open this Monday. The Frenchman, led two sets to nothing by Frances Tiafoe, had done the hardest part by snatching a fifth set, but he ended up giving up at the end of the effort (7-6, 6-3, 4-6, 6- 7, 6-3). A difficult outcome for the French player to swallow, especially since his opponent, in poor physical condition, benefited according to him from the help of the referee to manage this decisive set.
Sabotage malin
In the 3rd and 4th sets, the American seemed really exhausted, going so far as to vomit on the court. We thought that Rinderknech could finish him off, but Tiafoe managed to break the rhythm, taking all his time between points, sometimes too much, without the referee having anything to say about it. Which annoyed the Frenchman a little.
“This 5th set, for me, is quite scandalous on the part of the referee,” he reacted at a press conference, as reported by The Team. It's part of the game, it [Tiafoe] knew how to take advantage of it. He's a guy who's been top 10, top 20 for years and years, who's made semis in Grand Slams. He used his experience, he managed to draw. He “sabotaged” the 5th set a bit, the referee left him and it was a bit disjointed for me in the 5th. »
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Rinderknech does not try to open the umbrella. Aware that he is not losing this match because of that either, he simply says he is surprised by the difference in treatment between him and his opponent. “When the referee put pressure on me after three games in the first set, when I went over by a second, while we did interpoints at 1'15, 1'30 repeatedly on his service games in the 5th set, there is inconsistency in the refereeing, he points out. That's what annoys me a little. But again, if I had played the first two sets like the 3rd and 4th, there wouldn't have been a 5th and we wouldn't be talking about any of that. »
For his part, Tiafoe admitted that he had not been far from giving up. He would surely have done it, moreover, if it had not been a Grand Slam tournament.
