Australian Open > Rinderknech, after his five-set defeat against Tiafoe: “He sabotaged the fifth set a bit. And for me, clearly, he had an advantage”

Arthur Rinderknech battled for more than four hours before losing in five sets to 16^e world player, Frances Tiafoe, in the first round of the Australian Open: 7–6(2), 6–3, 4–6, 6–7(4), 6–3.

In comments reported by The Team after his defeat, the Frenchman expressed some criticism towards the refereeing.

“He knew how to use his experience, the referee let him play with his experience. Which is quite difficult for me to accept. This 5^e set, for me, is quite outrageous on the part of the referee. It's part of the game, he (Tiafoe) knew how to take advantage of it (…) He 'sabotaged' a little on the 5th^e set, the referee left it and it was a little disjointed for me on the 5th^e. Once again, he was 'clutch' on the points to be taken, bravo to him, declared before adding another layer.

Today for me, clearly, he was advantaged at 5^e set. Do I lose the match because of this? Surely not. Would it have been more 'fair' (fair) on 5^eif we had been arbitrated fairly? Surely yes. Would I have won? Maybe not. But when the referee puts pressure on me after three games in the first set, when I went over by a second, even though we had inter‐points at 1′15″, 1'30″ repeatedly on his service games at 5^e set, there is non‐consistency in the arbitration. And that's what annoys me a little. »

Published on Monday January 13, 2025 at 4:47 p.m.