By Chris Oddo | @TheFanChild | February 25, 2025
The integration of VAR technology in tennis is both exhilarating and unpredictable. Today in Dubai, it played a crucial role when Felix Auger-Aliassime successfully challenged a pivotal point that he would likely have lost under normal circumstances.
Check out the dramatic moment below, where Auger-Aliassime finds himself impeded by an unaware ball kid extending to retrieve a ball, just as the Canadian lunges back for a desperate play.
As the 24-year-old calls for the review, it becomes evident that he had indeed been obstructed. However, it’s equally apparent that he may well have lost that point regardless. Yet, that’s not the purpose of the VAR; its role is solely to ascertain whether a hindrance occurred.
Felix was granted the opportunity to replay the point, which ended with Alexander Bublik serving an ace with an underarm shot. Nevertheless, Auger-Aliassime went on to win the set and ultimately the match with scores of 7-6(7), 6-7(4), 6-3.
Umpire Miriam Bley decided that a hindrance had occurred necessitating a replay of the point. This decision, however, raises a question: could she have also judged that Auger-Aliassime was essentially out of the play and had no realistic chance of winning it?
In tennis, there are always surprises, which is why players aim to make their opponents chase that elusive winning shot. Who knows what brilliance Auger-Aliassime could have conjured had he not been disrupted? Thus, the point was replayed, a judgment fraught with difficulty for Bublik, but in the end, the correct one. This instance exemplified VAR’s efficacy, albeit still leaving some ambiguity in its wake.
From their post-match handshake, it was clear that both players had no hard feelings about the situation:
Felix gets the victory 😮💨 @felixtennis emerges triumphant from a thrilling contest against Bublik to reach round 2! #DDFTennis pic.twitter.com/wBrr3At9Ke
— Tennis TV (@TennisTV) February 25, 2025
