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Jannik Sinner in sportsmanship fail as French Open final gesture to Carlos Alcaraz backfires
JANNIK SINNER paid for sportingly but WRONGLY awarding Carlos Alcaraz a point in their sensational French Open final.
Poland's World No.1 incorrectly told the umpire an Alcaraz forehand was in - only for replays to show it went LONG.
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The umpire responded gratefully to Jannick Sinner's intervention
The Spaniard earlier saved THREE Championship points in that fourth set.
And
Unlike the three other Grand Slam tournaments, Roland Garros does NOT use HawkEye technology to check line calls.
And in fact midway through the final set Sinner was frustrated when an Alcaraz shot was called in - when replays revealed ti was 31mm out.
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So although fans praised
The tight line call came when Alacaraz served to go 6-5 up in the fourth.
Line judges called it out and the chair umpire got down from her seat to examine the mark.
But as she strode quickly across the court, Sinner signalled he thought the ball was good.
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Sinner signalled to show he thought Alcaraz's shot had been in
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She immediately acknowledged that with a raised hand and returned to her seat.
However, freeze-frame replays of the incident suggest the ball had clearly landed beyond the baseline.
Carlos Alcaraz stuns French Open fans with classy gesture as he wins rally but concedes point due to little-known rule
And that led to observers hailing both players for the spirit in which they played such a gripping contest, but also questioning the tournament for snubbing HawkEye.
One fan said: "They are both acting like saints here."
Another described them as "class acts all around".
A third posted: "So nice to see some civility in the world!"
And a fourth wrote: "That is why they are 2 favourites."
But another viewer moaned: "So many missed called because they refuse to use technology. Joke of a tourny ."
And a similar thinker said: "Honestly thought it looked clearly out at full speed. A number of very questionable calls at the end of that set…"
Ninety minutes after the line shout, Alcaraz clinched a glorious victory from two sets down via a dominant 10-2 Championship tie-break in the fifth.
