Alex Michelsen Gets Away With Default, Nick Kyrgios Joins Novak Djokovic Fans in Pointing Out Umpiring Double Standards

While the tennis community has been gearing up for the commencement of the US Open 2024, a major incident has diverted everyone’s attention to Winston-Salem.

Alex Michelsen launched a ball at the stands, hitting a spectator. Instead of following the norms and defaulting Michelsen, the umpire forgave the youngster. Aurelie Tourte’s partiality has resulted in Nick Kyrgios demanding the ATP be firm with their decision.

Michelsen found himself trailing Lorenzo Sonego 0-4 in the first set of the ATP 250 tournament final. Immediately after getting his service broken for the second time straight, the frustrated Californian angrily launched a ball into the stands and hit a spectator.

Usually, an incident like this would result in the umpire defaulting the player. However, in this case, after checking with the spectator, Tourte forgave the World No.52. This decision to allow the match to continue didn’t sit right with many individuals.

Nick Kyrgios voiced his displeasure with the same call, asking the ATP to be rigid with its rules.

Kyrgios also referred to Novak Djokovic being defaulted for a similar incident three years ago. During the US Open 2020, the same umpire penalized the Serbian for striking a line judge in a manner similar to Michelsen.

Despite Djokovic ensuring that the judge felt better and pleading his case to Tourte, the then-World No. 1 was forced to forfeit the tournament.

Many might compare the severity of the two incidents. However, Kyrgios is right to ask the ATP to standardize such rules instead of allowing the umpires to make ambiguous calls.

While Sonego was visibly frustrated after Tourte didn’t give Michelsen the same Djokovic treatment, the Italian did manage to win the contest. He followed a 6-0 domination in the first set with a 6-3 second-set win, lifting his first title since September 2022.