Controversy at Wimbledon

Not long after Nadal is bundled out of the tournament by a 100th seed, Karlovic accuses Wimbledon officials of favouring Murray.

After a night of upsets, it only seems fitting that there's a scandal to follow the very next day. As the world was still reeling from the shock of world No. 2 Rafael Nadal's early exit, Ivo Karlovic of Croatia has made allegations that Wimbledon officials were instrumental in Andy Murray’s controversial four-set win.

The fixing allegations arose as a result of the match officials continuously calling foot faults at deciding stages in the game, such as when the score was balanced in a tie break or similar situations. Karlovic was penalised for 11 foot faults throughout the game, so one can see where the controversy lies, as it is very unusual for foot faults to be called in modern-day tennis, and even more unusual when they are called at such a high level. Karlovic stated that he hasn’t committed that many foot faults since he was eight years old and that after an indeterminate amount of faults he took a step back to ensure that he remained fault free, yet he was still penalised. Karlovic believes that because Murray is the home favourite to win Wimbledon his allegations gain more credibility, especially considering the last English player to win Wimbledon was Fred Perry in 1936.

Murray assumed a neutral and diplomatic position regarding the allegations and relied on the long-standing history and tradition of Wimbledon to speak for itself. He believes that video analysis of the game will easily end the dispute, even though the outcome will not be able to be reversed.

One can only hope that the allegations are just the ranting’s of a sore loser and that the Wimbledon officials in question have not tainted the reputation of tennis’s oldest tournament. - Calvin Turnbull