Two controversial moves soured the mood between the French and Brazilian teams in this weekend’s confrontation, for the first round of the Davis Cup. Both took place in the last games of the match in which Arthur Fils (19th of the world ranking) defeated Thiago Wild (76th) 6/1 and 6/4.
The two decisions of the German referee Timo Janzen were unfavorable to the Brazilian. They were important to the result, because the first point was worth a break for fils, and the second left the Frenchman to a point of victory in the set and the game.
Shortly after the match, as is already turning usual in controversies involving foreigners, Brazilians have entered the fils accounts and the French tennis Federation to post offensive comments, most in Portuguese. “Stealing is easy,” wrote one. “Fair Play disappeared, right, clown,” commented another.
With the victory, France opened 2-0 at the best of five, as Ugo Humbert (15th) defeated João Fonseca (99th) 7/5 and 6/3 in the first match. The confrontation continues this Sunday (2) with the match of pairs, between Rafael Matos/Marcelo Melo and Benjamin Bonzi/Pierre-Huugues Herbert, and, if necessary, Humbert x Wild and Fils x Fonseca.
When the second set was 4/4, Fils countered a ball too long on a break point in his favor. To the astonishment of Brazilians, referee Janzen said the ball touched Wild’s racket and gave the French point. There is no point in the protest vehement of the Brazilian team captain, Jaime Oncins-in the Cup Davis, the coach sits by the court next to the player, something that does not happen in other tournaments.
The second controversy occurred in the next game on 30/30. Wild won a point, but Janzen said he heard the Brazilian asking for electronic review of the fils withdrawal. The point was eventually given to the Frenchman, who closed the match in the next play. “I just gave a grunt,” Wild claimed in the post-game interview.
At the time of usual compliance with the network, between players and captains, the climate warmed. Questioned by Sheetneither Wild nor Fils revealed what they said to each other. “It was something in the heat of the moment. They both exaggerated a little beyond the necessary. I will surely talk to him, it is a nice guy off the court,” said the Brazilian. “It was the first time I had to separate players on the net,” joked the captain of the French team, former player Paul-Henri Mathieu.
For Brazilians who criticized fils on social networks, French should have recognized arbitration errors and assigned the points. But Wild himself admitted that in place of the opponent he would have done the same.
“To be honest, probably no world player would do this in a 30-40 game. It’s not for him to do, it’s for the judge to make the decisions,” Wild said.
“He wouldn’t have given me the point either,” Fils said, but admitting that he didn’t see the ball play in Wild’s racket in the first controversial move.
“No one is saying that Thiago would have won the game,” said Oncins, visibly annoyed by the arbitration. “But he (the judge) made a wrong call (decision) at a very important moment of the match. Now just cool our heads, dinner and have a chat with the team. We will still fight a lot to try to turn this confrontation, “he added.
