Nadal mauls Goffin after big controversy

By
Mark Hall
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Rafael Nadal is one step away to win a sensational 10th title in Monte Carlo.

The King of Clay was in fantastic form to play in the Principality a phenomenal David Goffin. The match was absolutely great in the very beginning with Goffin attacking Rafa and the Spaniard defending using his trademark style.

The big mess

Unfortunately, the umpire Cedric Mourier spoiled the entire match after a huge mistake. David was leading 3-2 (1 break up) AD-40; Rafa blasted a forehand that was called out (and it was clearly long). That meant that after a hard-fought battle, the Belgian would have led 4-2. Rafa didn’t complain at all, but Cedric had the insane idea to overrule the call after he picked a completely different mark. Eventually, the point was repeated, and Goffin lost the game. From that moment, the Belgian lost his mind completely to win only 1 of the following 11 games. Rafa won the contest 6-3 6-1.

 

The discussion

This was the exchange between Goffin and Mourier (in French)

“No, it’s over there,” Goffin tells Mourier the real mark

“Well, I think it’s that one,” Mourier replied

“No, you can’t say that it’s completely over here,” Goffin rebuked

“Well, listen, then I’m wrong but …” Mourier replied

“Oh, it can’t be true!” said a desperate Goffin

It was too much. GOFFIN

In the post-match press conference, David explained what happened and why he folded.

“All of a sudden you have a mistake like the chair umpire did, it’s really tough,” Goffin commented. “When you have a mistake like this, you have to give more energy again to come back into the game. It was maybe too much. He just showed me something; I don’t know what. I saw on his face that he was nervous, he wasn’t sure.

I have nothing against Cedric; he’s a very nice guy. But he makes mistakes.”

The Hawkeye

To make things even more embarrassing, the Hawkeye (that is not used officially on clay) made it very clear that Mourier had a huge blunder.



 

It’s very sad. NADAL

Rafa won the match with great merit and he 100% deserved to reach this final. Unfortunately, Nadal was constantly booed, and the crowd was siding with David. The Mallorcan commented

“I receive huge support from the crowd all around the world. Today, I don’t know why. For me, it is sad, especially in a place that I love.”


The final vs. Ramo-Vinolas

Rafa will play an all-Spanish (all-leftish) final against his compatriot Ramos-Vinolas. The head to head is 2-0 for Nadal that has beaten Albert twice in Barcelona without ever conceding him a single set.