The Wimbledon stars argued at the net after their match drew to a close
Felix Auger-Aliassime and Alejandro Davidovich Fokina engaged in a lengthy verbal exchange following the conclusion of their thrilling Wimbledon encounter. Davidovich Fokina collapsed in agony on break point while facing Auger-Aliassime’s serve in the fourth set, only to make a swift recovery, leading BBC presenter Clare Balding to draw comparisons with footballers’ apparent injuries at the World Cup.
The Spaniard claimed a point on Auger-Aliassime’s serve to earn himself two break points to keep his hopes alive, only to then start limping in discomfort. He was treated courtside but eventually rose to his feet with a wince.
At that moment, the No. 3 seed was serving for the match.
Auger-Aliassime hadn’t dropped serve all tournament but he double-faulted the following point to enable Davidovich Fokina to level at 5-5 in the fourth set before claiming a tie-break. Auger-Aliassime took the fifth set 6-1 and the duo had a tense confrontation after shaking the umpire’s hand.
Davidovich Fokina then had another go at his opponent as he was leaving the court.
On the BBC, there was conjecture that the circumstances surrounding the injury sparked the dispute between the two seeds.
“There was something of an angry exchange after the match,” Clare Balding said on the BBC’s coverage. “I believe this is because [Davidovich Fokina] turned an ankle, had a bit of attention to that and then seemed to be moving fine and running fine, which can happen.
“If you’ve been watching the football at the World Cup you’ll see all sorts of recoveries are made from percieved injuries. After that as Davidovich Fokina was leaving the court he went back for a little afters.
“We’ll find out more detail from this because Felix is just doing his on court interview. We’ll clarify exactly what all this is all about.”
Auger-Aliassime ultimately addressed it in his post-match press conference rather than the on-court interview, having been asked about the exchange directly. “Well, the interactions between him and I, I don’t want to get into that. If he wants to come in here and talk about it, he can. But he knows my opinion,” he said.
“That’s one of these things that I have differences with people in my life on tour. They know what I think. That’s the most important.
“Now what I can say, though, is that I think the rule has to change. I think that obviously as long as the rule is like that, a player will use it to their advantage.
“I think that it’s very simple: if you’re hurt bad, or whatever you’re hurt, while the game’s going on of your opponent, in the middle of the game, the opponent is serving, the shot clock is on, basically when you’re hurt bad, you’re forfeiting every point until you can call the physio. If the physio helps you recover, you play your service game. If you’re hurt bad, then you retire, obviously.
“But to stop in the middle of an opponent’s service game and to be able to call the physio, I think that’s a disgrace of a rule. I don’t see any other sport where you can do that. I mark my words. It’s a disgrace of a rule. So that’s it.”
