British Tennis Forum - Celebrating 20 Years!

indiana · Tennis legend

Week 29 - WTA250 - Prague, Czechia - Hard (Doubles only)

wolf · Tennis legend

Cut off for doubles is always 2 weeks before on the main tour (except for men's AO which was like 8 weeks this year).

Anna · Improver

I was half-watching on bet365 - decent picture - some very nice doubles rallies - no big serving - lots of lobbing and angles.

The delay was due to the automatic line calling system going down - the Brits had a ball close to the line a few shots before the winner (IIRC on the first point of the game with the home team serving at 2-3). I was expecting that shot to be called out (though pic isn't good enough to be confident on that).

Our girls won the rally and then the umpire called a let - replay the point. There ensued a long dispute with Harriet initially arguing that you have to call a let at the point the system goes down - not after the Czechs have lost the point - at one stage it sounded like she said something like "call Marina or I'm not playing". At one point it sounded like our girls were arguing that you have to challenge immediately - obviously not relevant - since it isn't a challenge based system due to automatic line calling (correct me if I'm wrong). Some male official came onto court and had some discussion with our two - and eventually a let was played.

A good (if rather partisan) crowd (good shots from our two were met with near silence). The home crowd were obviously enjoying watching two very talented teenagers - it was a surprise to see such a one-sided MTB.

sammmm · Strong Club Player

Anna wrote:
I was half-watching on bet365 - decent picture - some very nice doubles rallies - no big serving - lots of lobbing and angles.
The delay was due to the automatic line calling system going down - the Brits had a ball close to the line a few shots before the winner (IIRC on the first point of the game with the home team serving at 2-3). I was expecting that shot to be called out (though pic isn't good enough to be confident on that).
Our girls won the rally and then the umpire called a let - replay the point. There ensued a long dispute with Harriet initially arguing that you have to call a let at the point the system goes down - not after the Czechs have lost the point - at one stage it sounded like she said something like "call Marina or I'm not playing". At one point it sounded like our girls were arguing that you have to challenge immediately - obviously not relevant - since it isn't a challenge based system due to automatic line calling (correct me if I'm wrong). Some male official came onto court and had some discussion with our two - and eventually a let was played.
A good (if rather partisan) crowd (good shots from our two were met with near silence). The home crowd were obviously enjoying watching two very talented teenagers - it was a surprise to see such a one-sided MTB.

Thanks for the details Anna, glad our girls used it as motivation rather than letting it get to them and losing focus. Sounds like the young Czech pair are going to be competing at the sharp end of bigger tournaments soon