Anna Kalinskaya’s US Open journey came to an end after she lost the third round to Brazil’s Haddad Maia. However, the match grabbed several eyeballs, not because of the two players but because of a controversial decision by the chair umpire Miriam Bley.
While leading 2-0 in the first set, Kalinskaya became a victim of a bizarre umpiring decision, that not just caused her to lose the set but eventually the match as well. The incident took place when Maia was returning one of Kalinskaya’s shots, which the latter believed was a double bounce.
The umpire ruled it in favor of the Brazilian and awarded her the point when it happened. However, the Russian was quite sure that it was a double bounce and hence, asked for a video review to overturn the decision.
But things became heated between Kalinskaya and Bley when the latter refused to change her decision and maintained the stance that Maia had hit the ball before it bounced off the ground for the second time. This has put a huge question mark on the German umpire’s decision-making.
Tennis Officiating hasn’t been the sharpest lately because….
HOW does Beatriz Haddad Maia walk away winning this #USOpen point??
The ball clearly bounced twice in the review.
— Myles David (@TunedIntoTennis) September 1, 2024
Bley has been a tennis enthusiast ever since she was a child. Her journey started off during childhood when she used to play tennis, followed by her attaining the lowest level German tennis coaching license. She started teaching in summer camps while still studying at the university. Her first-ever match as a chair umpire came in 2005 in her city during the semifinal of the district championships.
She then took a course with Norbert Peick, a retired Grand Slam supervisor while still playing tennis for her club. This paved her way to international tennis and she officiated her first-ever ITF match in Munich in 2007. In 2015, she earned her silver badge and became the first-ever German woman to do so. In the following year, she became a part of WTA’s second team of umpires.
Her final promotion came in 2020, when she was awarded the gold badge and hence, registered another feat as the sole German woman chair umpire. Interestingly, her husband too is a tennis umpire.
The German has also featured in a WTA Tour cover story, in which the governing body called her a ‘trailblazer’, a compliment which is now questionable.
Rublev and Chardy were victims of Bley’s shocking umpiring calls before Kalinskaya
Repeated controversial decisions from her have put her credibility in doubt. Earlier in 2024, she grabbed headlines for Andrey Rublev getting defaulted in the semifinals of the Dubai Tennis Championships against Alexander Bublik. Rublev was accused of cursing at the linesman in his native language, prompting the umpire to call the supervisor, who dismissed the Russian from playing any further.
A similar incident as Kalinskaya took place with Jeremy Chardy during the second round match of the 2023 Australian Open. A spare ball fell from Chardy’s pocket while he served against Britain’s Dan Evans who returned the ball. However, as soon as the former French player hit the ball for the second time, Bley called a ‘let’ and Chardy’s shot went into the net.
Evans, on the other hand, took the stance that he didn’t see the ball falling out of Chardy’s pocket. Thus, the umpire decided not to replay the point, making the Frenchman enraged as he asked her why she didn’t stop the play when the ball had fallen and waited for the second shot to point it.
Fans and tennis experts are raising questions over the authenticity of VAR methods and umpires. They believe there’s no need for a video review if despite having them, umpires make decisions that hamper a player’s future in the match. At the same time, Haddad Maia has been criticized too for not accepting her fault and walking away with her point.
