Croatian veteran Marin Cilic was left frustrated with the shot clock during his fourth-round loss to Canadian Felix Auger Aliassime.
Cilic, who stunned Russian world No.6 Andrey Rublev in the previous round, couldn’t repeat those heroics today after going to No.9-ranked Auger Aliassime in four sets, 2-6 7-6 (9-7) 6-2 7-6 (7-4) at John Cain Arena.
Not long after falling into a two-set to one deficit against Aliassime, Cilic let his emotions get the better of him after what appeared to be an issue with the shot clock.
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Cilic, a former US Open champion, stopped play early in the fourth set to ask chair umpire Aurelie Tourte why the shot clock wasn’t in its regular position.
“Show the shot clock there… why is it happening?” Cilic was heard saying to the umpire.
After Tourte replied “I don’t know”, Cilic had a message for those in charge of the malfunctioning display.
“Tell them that they’re stupid,” he said to the chair umpire.
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Former Australian tennis player Josh Eagle explained that Cilic looked to be frustrated by the chair umpire’s handling of time between points, with the shot clock not in its regular position to assist the Croatian.
“I think what they’re talking about is the shot clock is not on the back-board where it typically is,” Eagle said in commentary.
“They may be having an issue with that, it’s only way up (high) on the scoreboard.
“I think Marin is feeling like she’s (chair umpire) not controlling the speed of play when Felix is serving.”
Chair umpire Tourte later informed Cilic that those in charge of the malfunctioning display were “aware” and they would “have to fix it”.
Cilic, the 2018 Australian Open finalist, kick-started today’s match with a dominant opening set and looked solid in the second against Auger Aliassime.
Both players had set point opportunities during a tense second set tiebreak, but it was Auger Aliassime who finally broke through.
Today’s win for Auger Aliassime is the first time the Canadian has reached the quarter-final stages of the Australian Open.
He’ll play world No.2 Daniil Medvedev in a blockbuster clash on Wednesday.
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