PARIS — Lorenzo Musetti was warned for unsportsmanlike conduct for kicking a tennis ball that inadvertently hit a linesperson throughout his French Open quarterfinal towards Frances Tiafoe on Tuesday.
In contrast to most top-level tennis tournaments, which depend on digital line-calling, there are nonetheless people on court docket at Roland-Garros to make rulings on whether or not pictures land in or out.
The eighth-seeded Musetti, who gained a bronze medal for Italy on the Paris Olympics and was a semifinalist at Wimbledon final 12 months, had simply dropped a sport to path Tiafoe 5-3 within the second set of their match at Courtroom Philippe-Chatrier.
As Musetti was given balls so he may serve within the subsequent sport, he took a left-footed swipe at one and it flew right into a feminine line choose making calls behind his baseline.
The chair umpire instantly introduced to the group that Musetti was being given a warning for a code violation. There isn’t any penalty for an preliminary warning of that kind.
Quickly, Tiafoe claimed that set. Musetti had taken the opener within the best-of-five-set match with a semifinal berth at stake. Neither of them has been to the ultimate 4 at Roland-Garros.