Ok, so as best I can understand it, here's what happened. At 15-all with Rafa serving to force a first set tiebreak, Tomas hits a ball that the linesman calls good. Rafa hits the ball back into the court but puts his finger up as if to signal that he's stopping play to issue a challenge. But a second after Rafa does this (and his body language totally indicated he was planning to stop play) Carlos Bernardes overules and audibly calls the ball out. Tomas complains and Carlos tells him he can challenge. Tomas does and Hawkeye reveals the ball is in.
Here's where shit gets "wha?"
Carlos awards the point to Tomas. Carlos is totally wrong. Irrespective of Rafa's body language, Carlos is the one who called the ball out. Rafa hit the ball back into play. The fact that Hawkeye proved him to be wrong means the point should have been replayed because Rafa was there to get the ball back into play.
Am I wrong here? I mean, yes, Rafa was going to challenge the ball anyway, and if he had he would have lost the point for stopping play. But he didn't. Carlos made the call. Carlos was wrong. Replay the point.
I'm pretty sure Tomas regrets ever calling the challenge. After Rafa went off on Carlos and the tournament referee he went off on the tennis ball. All fired up he would go on to one of those "Ruh roh. Now I know why they call him 'The Bull'" runs to clinch the first set and cruise to victory.
You mess with the bull, you get the horns.
(Pics: Getty, AP)
