Wimbledon umpire Nico Helwerth has been left off the match list for Monday after an angry player declared she had a game ‘stolen’ from her.
The controversial incident occurred during Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova’s 7-6 6-4 victory over Britain’s Sonay Kartal in the last 16 on Sunday afternoon.
Helwerth ordered the two players to replay a crucial point at 4-4 in the first set after the electronic line calling system was accidentally turned off.
Kartal’s initial shot was visibly out and Pavlyuchenkova would’ve won the game if the technology – only introduced this year – was working correctly.
But Pavlyuchenkova lost the replayed point and was broken to trail 5-4, with the Russian left furious and claiming ‘they stole a game from me’.
Wimbledon umpire Helwerth will now not officiate at Wimbledon on Monday – despite taking charge of nine matches in the last seven days.
All England Club chief defends Nico Helwerth
Despite being left off the rota, All England Club chief executive Sally Bolton has defended Helwerth, who has officiated three Grand Slam finals to date.
Bolton said: ‘The chair umpire was in communication with the review official and was not being informed that the system had been partially deactivated.
‘So the chair umpire was not operating with perhaps a full set of information while he’s trying to make those decisions.’
Wimbledon officials have confirmed that rules would’ve allowed Helwerth to call the ball out himself before the controversial replayed point.
Pavlyuchenkova: The umpire was so confused
Speaking after the match, Pavlyuchenkova said: ‘The chair umpire was so confused.
‘I think they just need to… chair umpire needs to maybe have a clear plan if that happens, ‘Okay, what I’m going to do in this situation’.
‘I think they [are] a little bit lost. They start calling everybody. They don’t know what to do.
‘Instead [they should be able to say], ‘If the system is down, then I’m going to take initiative and call this’.
‘We probably should have this system like in football to review.’
According to iNews, Wimbledon sources have claimed that Helwerth’s omission from Monday’s order of play is ‘normal practice’ – and that he’ll be back to officiating duties later in the tournament.