Lorenzo Musetti escapes French Open disqualification after kicking ball at line judge
Lorenzo Musetti escaped being disqualified from the French Open after accidentally kicking a ball at a line judge during this quarter-final win over Frances Tiafoe.
The Italian progressed to his first Roland Garros semi-final after beating Tiafoe in four sets and will play either Carlos Alcaraz or Tommy Paul on Friday for a place in the final.
But the eighth seed had a fortunate escape during his contest with Tiafoe where Musetti risked being defaulted from the tournament when he struck a line judge by volleying the ball with his foot.
Musetti, who had lost the previous point on serve and was down 3-5 in the second set, was receiving balls from a ball boy when he dropped one of them behind the baseline as he faced the back of the court.
Instead of reaching down to catch it, the 23-year-old decided to swing his left foot at the ball, kicking it on the half-volley.
The ball unintentionally struck the line judge in the chest and when he realised his mistake, Musetti moved towards her before holding his racket up in a gesture of apology.
Musetti received a warning for unsportsmanlike conduct from the chair umpire but no further action was taken, with the Italian going on to win 6-2 4-6 7-5 6-2 and reach the semi-finals.
The incident had similarities to when Novak Djokovic was disqualified from the US Open in 2020 for mistakenly striking a line judge in the throat when he hit a ball towards the back of the court.
Djokovic was defaulted by tournament officials following a lengthy on-court after taking a ball from his pocket and hitting it behind him with his racket, hitting the female line judge in the throat.
On TNT Sports, Tim Henman, who was disqualified from a Wimbledon men's doubles match in 1995 when he accidentally hit a ball girl in the head, said Musetti had taken a huge risk.
The former British No 1 said: 'By the letter of the law, if you hit or kick a ball away in frustration and it hits a ball boy or a line judge or the umpire, that can be a disqualification.
'When you look at that, the umpire could have interpreted that as a disqualification. However, if Musetti was disqualified for that I think he would have felt very unlucky and very aggrieved.
'But when you kick the ball away, you've either got to be a better footballer and hit it in the right direction or you are risking something like that.'
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