Many barbaric calls have been made by officials, umpires or referees in sports history and there are way too many who would deserve the cake. According to some the NBA has the worst officiating due to the nature of the sport. The NFL, NHL and MLB don’t fall behind too much. In Tennis, before the implementation of the Hawk-Eye technology, the quality of officiating was subpar. John McEnroe often demanded umpires controlling his matches be removed, and he was mostly right. “There should be no umpires as well. That would maybe be a major innovation as well,” McEnroe said when asked what changes he’d like to introduce.

Notes:
– Serena Williams vs Jennifer Capriati, US Open 2004 quarterfinal: Three line calls went against Williams in the final set, and Auto-Ref system was being tested during the match. Though the calls were not reversed, there was one overrule of a clearly correct call and the chair umpire Mariana Alves, that the TV replay showed to be good. She was removed from consideration for further matches at that year’s US Open. These errors prompted talks about line calling assistance especially as the Auto-Ref system was being tested by the US Open at that time and was shown to be very accurate. Officials from the United States Tennis Association apologized to Williams for the errors by the chair umpire Mariana Alves during the final set.

– Roger Federer vs Rafael Nadal, Miami 2005 Final: Nadal should’ve had 0-40 on Federer’s serve, instead he went on to lose the game and eventually the match which was the second career head-to-head meeting between the great rivals. Nadal has played 5 Miami finals and is yet to win the title.

– Jerzy Janowicz vs Denis Shapovalov, 2017 Guadalajara challenger semifinal: Janowicz recieved three code violations in 2 minutes. He lost the match after having a match point at 5-4 in the third set.

– Olivier Rochus vs Igor Sijsling, Hertogenbosch 2012 second round: Atrocious decision by the chair umpire to replay the point because the linesman gave an “unsighted” signal. Sijsling lost the point but broke two points later with a forehand winner.

– Robin Söderling vs Fernando González, Roland Garros 2009 semifinal: González wiped the mark in a classy manner in the important point of the fourth set. 2009 was the year which saw one of the biggest upsets in tennis history at the Roland Garros. Söderling won the semifinal match vs González in five sets but lost in the final to Roger Federer.

– Andre Agassi vs Tommy Haas, Wimbledon 1998 second round: A forehand by Haas was ruled good, even though replays showed it was clearly out. “It was nearly six inches ” Agassi protested. “It was out both ways. It was wide and it was long”. “In 12 years, i’ve never seen it miss that much, ” Agassi said to chair umpire Frame. The call gave Haas a 6-3 lead in a third set tiebreaker.

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