Alejandro Davidovich Fokina has come under fire from Andy Roddick for his behaviour during and after his fourth-round match against Felix Auger-Aliassime with the former world No 1 saying the Spaniard had no reason to be mad at his opponent.
Third seed Auger-Aliassime was on course to complete a four-set win on No.1 Court on Sunday as he was serving for the match at 6-7 (4-7), 7-6 (8-6), 6-3, 5-4, but his opponent appeared to roll his ankle and required treatment.
Once Davidovich Fokina returned after a lengthy break, the Canadian served a double fault and the set went to another tie-breaker, which the 22nd seed won, before Auger-Aliassime eventually saw it out for 6-7 (4-7), 7-6 (8-6), 6-7 (2-7), 6-1.
The Spaniard was clearly unhappy with the cold handshake from Auger-Aliassime after the match and got upset, although nothing serious happened.
During the post-match press conference, the Canadian stated that there should be a rule change to avoid such drama, saying “to stop in the middle of an opponent’s service game and to be able to call the physio, I think that’s a disgrace of a rule”.
Wimbledon News
Novak Djokovic Wimbledon injury fear raised by former British No 1
Alexander Zverev can ‘definitely’ win more Grand Slams as ‘dangerous’ Wimbledon warning sent
During the latest episode of Served with Andy Roddick podcast, the American gave his take on the situation, saying: “I want to get into the back and forth with him and Davidovich Fokina because that was a little weird. FAA, it takes a lot for him to get upset, he’s one of the more even-keeled guys.
“You don’t feel like he’s one who likes to lash out, he was pretty forthright and pissed in his press conference and in my opinion is was rightfully so.
“There was something going on with his [Davidovich Fokina’s] ankle. FAA serving out the match in the fourth set at 5-4, FAA hasn’t been broken in the tournament yet at this stage, by the way, and then Davidovich-Fokina wins a point to go up 15-40 on FAA’s serve, so middle of the game, he goes down again and I’m like ‘he might never walk again in his life’. It was a lot, you don’t know what someone is feeling.
“Then he goes and gets treatment for maybe three minutes. FAA was in the middle of his service game for the match, 15-40. He comes back out and we in the green room going ‘watch him double fault here, this is ridiculous, this is insane’. Sure as s*** double and then Davidovich-Fokina was fine.
“He remembered to limp a little bit in between points, but if you do that and even if you are actually really hurt, which we don’t know [as] it was a miraculous recovery, and you have completely iced someone in the most insane way and you win the set there is still a guilt mechanism a little bit.
“[But] he’s throwing two hands out up the crowd, doing the ear. I’m going, ‘oh my gosh, I would have…’ Whatever you think about how it went down, I would have lost it if I was FAA. There is no chance I would not have said something and to his credit he did not, and I was thinking he is the nicest person I have ever known.
“Fast forward and FAA wins in five, cruises up, doesn’t say anything, gives him a hard handshake, kinda pumps him, at the net, but nothing horrible. It looked like Davidovich Fokina wanted to have a conversation, Felix pumped him and gave him a handshake shiver and walked on.
“He turns around so obviously something was said to him. I mean, there’s no chance that Davidovich-Fokina can be p****** at FAA about anything he did.
“Listen, ankle hurts, miraculous recovery, let’s say that’s a possibility, there is still no chance that he can be mad. FAA did exactly zero wrong in this scenario and then to chirp at him when his back is turned and he is about to go and celebrate a win is bulls***.”
The post Alejandro Davidovich Fokina ‘remembered to limp’ during heated Felix Auger-Aliassime match appeared first on Tennis365.
Leave a Reply