French Open 2022 - 'That could have been nasty!' - Umpire reacts quickly to avoid mishit return from Lorenzo Musetti

Updated 25/05/2022 at 07:30 GMT

There was a close call during the evening session at the French Open on Court Philippe Chatrier as Lorenzo Musetti mishit a return in the direction of umpire Aurelie Tourte. Fortunately the umpire managed to stick out a hand and block the ball before it hit her. Musetti pushed Novak Djokovic to five sets at the French Open last year and was bidding to cause a shock against Stefanos Tsitsipas.

‘That could have been nasty!’ – Umpire nearly taken out by Musetti mishit

Umpire Aurelie Tourte showed quick reactions to avoid a potentially “nasty” incident after Lorenzo Musetti mishit a ball towards her at the French Open.

With Stefanos Tsitsipas serving in the first set on Court Philippe Chatrier, Musetti fired a forehand return towards the umpire’s chair.

Tourte managed to stick her hand up to block the ball as it travelled towards her position.

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“Could have been nasty,” said Chris Bradman on Eurosport commentary.

Umpire Arnaud Gabas suffered a fractured eye socket when he was struck by a ball that Denis Shapovalov smashed in anger during a Davis Cup match against Great Britain in 2017.

Musetti received from 4-1 down in the first set to move two sets up against fourth seed Tsitsipas.

Musetti was in a similar position against Novak Djokovic last year at the French Open but couldn’t close out the win and retired in the fifth set as he couldn’t “win a point”.

“It’s not an injury,” he said afterwards.

“It’s, well, just a little bit of cramps and a little bit of low back pain. I was not anymore able to win a point, and so was not really…grateful also for the crowd that was there, so I decided to retire.

“There was no chance that I could win a point, so I decided to retire because I think it was the best thing to do it.”

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