Watch: Jodie Burrage baffled after ball goes through net at Eastbourne
Jodie Burrage was stunned in her second-round Eastbourne clash with last year’s Wimbledon champion Barbora Krejcikova after the ball went through a hole in the net.
With Burrage a break up in the second set after losing the first, the Briton celebrated when a forehand hit by her Czech opponent crashed into the net to hand her a 30-15 advantage.
However, Burrage’s celebration immediately turned to confusion when the ball appeared on her side of the court. Chair umpire Marija Čičak awarded the point to Krejcikova, much to Burrage’s bemusement.
Burrage was adamant that the ball had not gone over the net and that it had instead gone through a hole in the net to land on the other side of the court.
“At 5-4, it was 15-15 and a pretty important point,” Burrage said afterwards. “Her ball went through the net and the umpire didn’t see it and thought it had hit the net and went over.
“I went over and looked because I was 100 per cent sure that it went through the net and there was a hole.”
Burrage immediately questioned the decision, which the umpire explained hit the net and went over, before the British No 7 walked to the net and found a broken cord towards the top of the it.
Having also inspected the defective net, Krejcikova acknowledged she had failed to return the ball onto Burrage’s side of the court and conceded the point, causing umpire Čičak to overturn her decision.
“When Barbora saw that, she obviously gave me the point which I am not sure I would do the same thing in that scenario because at the end of the day, I won the next two points and the second set. So full credit to her,” Burrage added.
“I don’t think many people are giving me that. It shows what kind of person she is and (I was) very lucky to have that point and set. But tough match and result overall.”
Burrage, having been awarded the point to go 15-30 up on Krejcikova’s serve, went on to clinch the game and in turn the second set to send the match into a decider. But she would fall agonisingly short after losing a third-set tie-break to suffer a 6-4, 4-6, 7-6 (7-3) defeat, despite having three match points on the Czech player’s serve in the decider.
“I saw something going through, but I didn’t know if there is a hole or not, and then when she found a hole I’m saying I feel like it was also going through so it’s your [Burrage’s] point,” Krejcikova said after the match.
It was Krejcikova’s second British opponent of the tournament after she knocked out Harriet Dart in the opening round on Tuesday in a game that was affected by rain delays.
On that occasion, home favourite Dart had two match points only for Krejcikova to save both before going on to win the match, which made her opponent cry, shrieking and yelling at her box.
Burrage, who came through the first round on the south coast 6-3, 6-2 against Moyuka Uchijima, spoke afterwards about the importance of that victory ahead of Wimbledon, which gets under way on Monday.
