Andy Murray has sarcastically thanked umpire Mohamed Lahyani after he was embroiled in a cheating row following his first-round exit at the Italian Open.
Murray, who has now thrown doubts over his participation at the French Open, was hoping for a run in Rome after a disappointing run on the ATP Tour. Prior to winning the Challenger Aix En provence, he had lost seven matches on the main circuit - the worst stretch of his illustrious career.
He was paired with long-time rival Fabio Fognini in the opening round, but was dumped out in three sets, losing 6-4, 4-6, 6-4 to the home-crowd favourite. And it was a match marred in controversy after Murray was involved in an angry exchange with the on-court umpire.
The flashpoint occurred in the first set when a baseline shot from Fognini was called in by a line judge. Murray disputed the call with Lahyani leaving his chair to look at the mark on the clay, only to back up the original decision.
“It’s a little bit on the line here,” Lahyani said. “The linesman called it good, there’s a little bit there, there’s a little bit white here, it’s just touching it.”
An exasperated Murray ranted at the official: "You can see the ball mark mate. Mohamed, look. How can you see that ball from there being in? How is it possible? You're trying to make a mark now. You can see the clay is still there. You can see the ball mark."
As Lahyani returned to his chair, Murray repeatedly yelled: "You know you've got that wrong.” His frustration was backed up with technology showing the ball was out, although the tournament doesn’t use HawkEye for line decisions.
The disagreement saw the crowd loudly boo the former Wimbledon champion, with Murray sending a message on social media following his elimination.
“Stadium full of Italians booing and whistling, thinking I’m trying to cheat Fabio out of point,” Murray posted on Instagram. “All because Mo couldn’t read a mark properly. Cheers mate.”
His brother, Jamie, joined in with the debate, adding: “How do you get this so wrong when you can get off your chair and look at the mark?! Where’s ELC?”
ELC refers to the Electronic Line Calling system which is due to be rolled out in all ATP tournaments from 2025. The move will see on-court line judges removed, with all decisions made exclusively off the back of the technology.
The defeat in the Italian capital also serves as a major blow to Murray’s hopes of qualifying as a seed for Wimbledon next month. Currently ranked 42nd in the world, the 35-year-old needs to climb 10 more places before the Championships get underway or risk facing one of the pre-tournament favourites very early on.
The three-time Grand Slam winner has already confirmed he will be at Queen’s Club in June, but has hinted he may skip the second major of the year at Roland Garros following his defeat in Rome. The French Open gets underway in less than two weeks, but Murray has said he will deliberate with his team before deciding whether he will enter.
“I’d still like to play but we did agree that we’d talk and make a decision as a team after Rome,” Murray said after his loss to Fognini.
“‘That is what I wanted, to see how my game felt, how I was playing and physically how I was doing in some of the longer matches before making a definitive call on it. We’ll have those discussions in the next few days.”
