Lorenzo Musetti continued his impressive clay court season by defeating Frances Tiafoe in four sets to advance to the French Open semifinals.
No one is talking about his win as much as they are about a ball-kicking incident that some felt he should have been disqualified for.
He received a penalty for unsportsmanlike conduct, but the debate is ongoing if that was the correct call.
Jim Courier believes it was correct though he admits it is a judgement call by the tournament.
“It’s one of the worst kicks I’ve ever seen an Italian make!” 🇮🇹
The panel weigh in on the moment which saw Lorenzo Musetti warned for unsportsmanlike conduct. #RolandGarros pic.twitter.com/MZNqbJTbTt
— TNT Sports (@tntsports) June 3, 2025
Many are comparing the Lorenzo Musetti incident to when Novak Djokovic was disqualified at the 2022 US Open after Djokovic accidentally hit a line judge in the neck with a ball.
Courier’s distinction is whether the incident causes injury. Ironically, Tim Henman was on the set, and he was defaulted for a similar incident nearly 30 years ago.
Tim Henman knows a thing or two about kicking tennis balls in the wrong direction 💥#RolandGarros pic.twitter.com/yaFHSY7nxC
— TNT Sports (@tntsports) June 3, 2025
Frances Tiafoe talks about Lorenzo Musetti incident
Tiafoe was asked about the incident after the match. He called it “comical” that nothing happened to Musetti.
This is another example of how inconsistent tennis is. Different tournaments have different balls, line judges, and rules. Taking the argument to a broader scope, drug testing infractions are not handled uniformly.
If anything, fans will get annoyed by the discussion because it diverts from the tournament. To be clear, the discussion would not have gone away if he was disqualified. The raging debate was going to happen either way. It is a shame the sport cannot find and document consistent rules to quell the outrage when these situations arise.
