Former world No. 1 Karolina Pliskova blew up at the Italian Open, smashing her racket several times on the umpire chair in frustration after a blown call ultimately decided her fate in the second round.
With the deciding set even at 5-5, Pliskova had a shot that was wrongly called out by a linesperson. However, the judge couldn’t point out the ball mark in the red clay, nor could the umpire. Pliskova argued but the call ultimately stood even though replay clearly showed Pliskova’s ball catching the line. She went on to lose that game and the match as Maria Sakkari got the biggest win of her career in the two-hour-and-21-minute match.
Unfortunate call for Pliskova. pic.twitter.com/qT3ZiVsn69
— Tennis GIFs 🎾🎥 (@tennis_gifs) May 16, 2018
After Pliskova embraced Sakkari at the net, she went to shake the chair umpire’s hand before pulling it back and smashing her racket several times into the umpire’s chair, clearly surprising Sakkari and leaving a massive crater in the chair.
Pliskova destroyed the chair umpire after losing the match pic.twitter.com/i05vKZKxSr
— enrico maria riva (@enricomariariva) May 16, 2018
Pliskova lost 3-6, 6-3, 7-5 to Sakkari, who got her first-ever win against a top-five opponent.
Sakkari, ranked no. 47 in the world, awaits her third-round opponent at the French Open warmup tournament.


