Doubles kicked off at the Australian Open yesterday. Unfortunately, the next game day was not without a scandal involving the Russians. As part of the first round meeting, the American athlete hit the tennis player from Russia hard with a ball and arranged trials with the judges. An athlete from the United States impudently grimaced and demanded a review of the result of the draw.

Disgusting behavior!

Fatal blow to the Russian woman

Russian tennis player Alexandra Panova has recently performed exclusively in doubles. The athlete played the last single match almost three years ago. It cannot be said that Alexandra is doing well in pairs. She lost all three meetings in 2023.

A good opportunity to rectify the situation was presented to the athlete in the game of the first round of the Australian Open. Paired with former Russian Natela Dzalamidze, now playing for Georgia, they started the game well against Czech Linda Frugvirtova and American Alison Riske-Amritraj.

In a stubborn struggle, Alexandra and Natela left the first set in a tie-break. The second game started well for them. Tennis players were leading with a score of 3:1, while serving Dzalamidze. It was at this moment that the turning point in the entire match episode occurred.

Photo: © Hannah Peters / Staff / Getty Images Sport / Gettyimages.ru

In the fifth game, an uncompromising battle unfolded: tennis players needed 15 rallies to determine the winners. In one of them, the American strongly loaded the ball on Panova’s leg. The Russian woman had no chance to dodge. The ball flew with such speed that the momentum was enough for it to bounce back to half of the opponents. After that, Riske nevertheless completed the drawing with a successful blow.

But unexpectedly for the American, the referee on the tower gave victory in the draw to Panova and Dzalamidze, which caused Alison’s harsh reaction. The judge considered that the cry “I’m sorry” during the draw prevented the Russian woman from playing. Shouting during the game is prohibited by the rules of tennis and is considered a nuisance.

The judge later apologized

The American did not agree with the decision. She argued for a long time with the judge on the tower, but he was adamant. Then she demanded to call the supervisor to the court and began to prove her case to her. Moreover, Alison did not hold back her emotions, using obscene words, calling the referee on the tower blind. Riske also asked the supervisor about his qualifications, since he did not agree with her position.

Riske accompanied the accusatory tirade with ugly antics, ridiculing the arbitrator’s facial expressions. Such a vivid reaction immediately became an Internet meme and flooded social networks.

But the judges did not fall for the hysteria of the American. Alexander and Natela took the lead, but at that moment something broke in their game. Perhaps, a long pause affected the showdown with the judges, in which the Russian-Georgian couple did not take part, but simply waited.

After the resumption of the game, Natela made a mistake several times in simple situations, giving the almost won game to her rivals. The game of our tennis players completely went wrong. They lost two sets in a row and completed their performances at the tournament in Melbourne.

Alison Risk-Amritraj / Photo: © Kiyoshi Ota / Stringer / Getty Images Sport / Gettyimages.ru

But the scandalous situation did not end there. After the end of the game, Alison criticized the Russian tennis player on social networks.

She had to take over everything. The judge then apologized for the wrong decision. Bad sportsmanship and cheating happen all the time, especially at the junior level,” Alison wrote.

Riske also called on all interested parties to join her in creating a special VAR technology so that judges can make the right decision in such situations. The athlete declared her readiness to help financially those who respond to her proposal.