Watch: Lorenzo Musetti kicks ball at line judge but escapes with warning
Lorenzo Musetti was frustrated at times against Frances Tiafoe and responded well to win in four sets - Getty Images/Adam Pretty
Italian No 2 Lorenzo Musetti put himself at risk of disqualification when he kicked a loose ball into the body of a line judge.
Yet Musetti got away with a warning from the chair umpire – an outcome which surprised a number of observers – and then went on to defeat Frances Tiafoe to move into the French Open semi-finals. Tiafoe described the lack of action as 'comical' in his post-match press conference.
'Obviously he did that and nothing happened,' Tiafoe said. 'I think that's comical, but it is what it is. Nothing happened, so there's nothing really to talk about. Obviously it's not consistent, so it is what it is.'
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Meanwhile, Rennae Stubbs, the former world doubles No 1, wrote on the X: 'Musetti is VERY LUCKY to be still on court right now. You cannot kick a ball and it hit the lines person and not be defaulted. I know he didn't mean it but no one does, man, this is BAD! And he's out there playing right, knowing he could easily have been in the locker room!'
The obvious point of comparison was the ejection of Novak Djokovic from his fourth-round match at the 2020 US Open for flicking a ball into the neck of a line judge.
The Musetti ball probably did not travel as quickly as Djokovic's did, but the greater difference lay in where it landed, which was on the body rather than such a sensitive area as the throat. The judge in question barely seemed to notice the contact, whereas in 2020, the unfortunate Laura Clark immediately collapsed to the ground, struggling to breathe.
Another disqualification made headlines at the French Open two years ago when Japanese doubles player Miyu Kato tried to pass a ball to a ball girl with her racket, but ended up hitting her on the head and moving her to tears.
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At the time, Alex Corretja, the commentator and former French Open finalist, said that 'it was too strict to disqualify her because it [the flight of the ball] was very slow'. Kato later described the penalty as 'unjust' but an appeal to tournament organisers was rejected.
As for Musetti, he was behind in the second set at the time of Tuesday's incident, and seemed particularly irritated when Tiafoe held serve to move to a 5-3 advantage. Tiafoe could be seen pointing out the judge to the umpire, and then discussing what had happened, before the code-violation warning was eventually announced.
Yet Musetti recovered his composure and began to move ahead in the match, eventually closing out a 6-2, 4-6, 7-5, 6-2 victory to earn a place in the last four.
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'It's a process of growing, not just inside the court but especially off the court,' he said during his on-court interview.
'Last year I became a father. I think that gave me an extra responsibility and I now approach things in a more professional way, not just on the court in matches but in my daily routine.'
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