Carlos Alcaraz might be out of Indian Wells, but the controversial VAR drama from his semifinal encounter against Jack Draper is still making rounds online. The two-time champion, who was trying to pull off a three-peat in the Californian desert, lost a thrilling battle to the Brit on Saturday. But it wasn’t without a controversial moment – thanks to the chair umpire. And now fans have come forward, voicing their support for the four-time Major winner, citing poor umpiring as a crucial reason behind his exit.
Opposite to expectations, Alcaraz failed to get off to a great start against Draper, as the latter took less than 30 minutes to clinch the first set. Alcaraz, however, bounced back really strongly and handed a bagel to his opponent in the second set, dragging the match into a decider. And that’s where the controversy erupted. In the initial moments of the third set, with the score leveled at 1-1 (15-15), the Spaniard hit a drop shot, forcing Draper to approach the net to make a return. The Brit did manage to hit the ball, but guess what? Chair umpire Mohamed Lahyani decided to intervene and announced that the ball had already bounced twice before Draper hit it.
Alcaraz, in the meantime, also approached the net after Draper’s return, but he couldn’t hit the ball inside the court. The point, however, went in Draper’s favor because of the umpire’s initial call. The Brit, however, expressed his frustration and demanded a video review. Based on the footage, the umpire reversed his decision and concluded that Draper played a legitimate shot while returning the ball. But Draper wanted the point as well, and he requested another review of Alcaraz’s shot to see if he was hindered by the initial double bounce call. Upon review, the umpire concluded the Spniard wasn’t hundred and hence, the point was eventually awarded to Draper.
The finest of margins…
A contentious moment involving video review in #TennisParadise pic.twitter.com/bLQ9TqvdJ6
— Tennis TV (@TennisTV) March 16, 2025
Draper went on to secure the victory by 6-1, 0-6, 6-4 and entered his maiden Masters 1000 final. When Alcaraz was asked about the VAR drama, he didn’t make it an excuse for his loss. But did it affect his momentum in the third set? In a press conference, dated March 15, he revealed, “Well, not really. I mean, I didn’t see if it was one bounce or two bounces at the beginning. So I was just waiting for the review.”
Continuing further, the French Open champion added, “I mean, and after, you know, with the second review, it was in the middle of the point or after I hit it, so I wasn’t sure enough. So I didn’t hear, you know, while I was hitting the ball, but I wasn’t sure enough to say something.”
But it seems hardcore Alcaraz fans think otherwise. They believe the chair umpire didn’t do a good job and that call eventually resulted in Alcaraz losing momentum and capitulating.
Carlos Alcaraz fans heavily criticize the chair umpire following a controversial VAR call
One tennis fan, dejected by Carlos Alcaraz’s exit, wrote on X, “Lahyani has been doing this for 30 years. He can’t make these kinds of mistakes…” For the uninitiated, Lahyani has been part of some of the most debatable moments during various tennis events. Take, for example, the 2023 Italian Open controversy. It involved the 24-time Slam champion Novak Djokovic.
In the QF round of the event against Holger Rune, Djokovic lost the first set but came back strongly and took the next one. In the decider, however, while serving, he got a time violation by Lahyani. The Serbian snapped at him back for taking too long to call out the score.
Echoing the sentiment against the chair umpire, one fan wrote, “Lahyani deserves a sanction. This is an ATP 1000, not a Sunday game in a yard.” But guess what? Lahyani did receive a suspension once. Remember the 2018 US Open controversy featuring Nick Kyrgios? It took place nearly seven years ago. Back then, Layhani was given a two-week suspension for trying to give ‘pep-talk’ to the Aussie in his second round match against Pierre Hugues Hebert. It was found that Layhani broke the on-court protocols by coming down the chair and walking up to Kyrgios.
The official US Open statement read: “After the third game of the second set in the Kyrgios-Herbert match on Court 17, with Kyrgios down 0-3, Chair Umpire Mohamed Lahyani left his chair to check on the condition of Nick Kyrgios. He came out of the chair because of the noise level in the Stadium during the changeover to make sure he could communicate effectively with Kyrgios.”
Kyrgios, however, later clarified, after winning the match, that the chair umpire didn’t influence his performance. “It’s not the umpire’s role to go down from the chair. But I get what he was trying to do. He behaves the way he behaves.”
Now it seems fans want another suspension for Lahyani. “What a robbery! Alahyani should be banned after this,” wrote another fan. Meanwhile, one fan simply called his judgment a poor case of interpretation. “There was no fine margin here, it was poor officiating where Mo had the literal best seat in the house to tell that it didn’t bounce twice.” It was hard to believe how he made the initial call despite having a clear view of the players and the court. Pointing it out, another fan wrote, “He has the sun in his eyes and still saw a double bounce…”
Interestingly, though, Carlos Alcaraz made it clear that the VAR drama wasn’t a factor in his Indian Wells debacle. Instead, he expressed his admiration for Jack Draper for playing better than him. In the press conference, he confessed, “Jack came, he played much better than me. You know, that point didn’t affect, you know, for my play at all.” The Brit will make his top-10 debut when the ATP ranking list gets updated after the BNP Paribas Open final on Monday.
What are your thoughts on the chair umpire’s call, though? Was it responsible for breaking Alcaraz’s momentum? Let us know in the comments below.
The post “Should Be Banned” – Calls Mount Against Indian Wells Chair Umpire as Fans Defend Carlos Alcaraz Over Controversial Call appeared first on EssentiallySports.