Arthur Fils, a Frenchman, got into a heated verbal argument with the umpire during Thursday’s intensely emotional match against Alexander Zverev at the 2024 Paris Masters.
Zverev won the opening set as the two men fought for a trip to the quarterfinals. But Fils used his home crowd’s backing to win the second set, setting up what ended up being an intense third set match.
With Fils serving in the third set, Zverev had a 2-1 lead. The umpire called out a serve that the Frenchman had hit near the baseline. Fils, however, contested the call and was successful, therefore it was reversed.
“You’re correct. When Fils came up to the umpire at the net, he stated, “I missed it.”
The 20-year-old, however, was shocked and asked, “How can you miss it?”
In the end, Zverev broke his serve, but Fils would win the point. Fils became irate as a result, stopping during the next game to yell at the umpire during the intervals between points.
The Frenchman added, “You are so bad, it’s unbelievable, since the first game I told you, you were so bad.” “And you continue in this manner. Come on, man. Get a little higher.”
After the German fell to Fils at the Hamburg Open in front of his home fans, Zverev would ultimately win the match in three sets as retaliation.