Spanish tennis player Pablo Carreno Busta has been accused of bad sportsmanship after ending a match in a fiery outburst at the Australian Open on Monday night.
The 27-year-old was booed off court by shocked fans who watched on in disbelief as Correno Busta unleashed his anger on umpire Thomas Sweeney following a tense match against Japan’s Kei Nishikori.
After battling it out on court in Melbourne for over five hours the world number 24 couldn’t contain his emotions, screaming at the chair umpire for a controversial line call that cost the Spaniard a tie break victory.
An obviously upset Carreno Busta was seen picking up his bag and flinging it right across the court before turning around and screaming at Sweeney and storming away.
The tennis star was pushed to the edge after losing a crucial point in the fifth set tie breaker. He was up 8-5 and looking to take home a win when things took a downwards spiral as his shot hit the net before dropping to the line.
It was called out by the umpire before his opponent hit a winner back, sending the ball down the line and ending in a point for Nishikori.
The 27-year-old challenged the “out” call, with hawkeye footage showing his shot was in. But Sweeney refused to replay the point, claiming the call came after Nishikori’s winning shot.
Sweeney’s decision caused a stir on court as Carreno Busta argued against him, trying to convince the umpire the call was made before Nishikori reached the ball.
Unfortunately for Carreno Busta this was the break that Nishikori needed, with the Japanese player coming back to win the tiebreak 10-8, ending the Spaniard’s chance of moving forward to the quarter finals.
The controversial call has led to mixed responses from fellow tennis players, with match commentator Jim Courier agreeing with the umpire’s decision.
“You can see how irritated he was, he didn’t win another point, it destroyed him,” he told Nine. “But my view is that the chair umpire made the correct call there.”
Meanwhile, former Andre Agassi coach Brad Gilbert took to social media to express his views and support for Carreno Busta in what was clearly a difficult moment.
“I am blown way how that ended PCB absolutely snapped I really feel for him,” he wrote on Twitter. “Thought umpire made wrong decision but totally a judgement call that u [sic] rarely ever see especially at that point.”
The upset player has since come out to apologise to Sweeney for the yelling attack in a post match press conference. Carreno Busta explained how sad he was with the result, admitting the way he left the court was not right.
“But I think that the referee missed – the umpire who is near the court missed, and, well, I try to leave [as] fast as possible when I lost that last point, because I know that in any moment I lost the head,” The Age reported he said.
“But it’s tough, no, to me to leave Australian Open like this, because I think that I played really good. I play an unbelievable match. Also Kei, he play really good, and that’s sad to leave like this.”