On Tuesday, Simona Halep and Jo Konta engaged in a fierce battle in the Wimbledon quarters that ended up with the win of the Briton. Unfortunately, during the match point, Simona was clearly disturbed by a shriek that came from the fans. Simona stopped to play to ditch her forehand to the net, but she was wrong in doing that.
Why the point didn’t have to be replayed.
According to the ITF RULES AND PROCEDURES FOR THE OFFICIALS (link), that was a clear case of outside hindrance that is regulated by Section P2 that reads as follows
2 Outside hindrance
If a player is hindered by anything not within his/her control (a ball rolling onto the court, a paper blowing onto the court, etc.) during play or during his/her service motion, the point should be replayed.
Crowd noise, “out” calls from spectators and other similar distractions are not considered a hindrance and the point should stand as played.
Simona was unlucky and the umpire right.
