Luca Nardi penalised by chair umpire for taking longer toilet break during ATP Challenger event

A controversial call from the chair umpire became the talking point during the ongoing ATP Challenger event. The competition is taking place in Turin where some top-quality players are featuring who are participating to prepare for the upcoming second Grand Slam of the year, the French Open.

The list of players also include some noticeable names who crashed out of the Rome Open as well. In the round of 32 encounter featuring a local player in Luca Nardi and Argentina’s Mariano Navone, a controversial call from the chair umpire gathered all the attention.

In the third set of the match, when it was all equal at 5-5, Nardi had the urge to rush to the toilet which was granted by the chair umpire. However, the player did not return in allotted time and was subsequently penalised. He was due to serve but the chair umpire ruled that the Italian tennis player ended up losing all three points.

That, however, did not impact the outcome of the match as Nardi came out on top with a score of 6-1, 5-7, 7-6. The winning player ended up registering 64 percent of the points on first serve, considerably higher than his opponent, who won 56 percent of the points on his first serve. He converted eight break points as well. Next up for Nardi will be Argentina’s Camilo Ugo Carabelli. The 25-year-old cemented his spot in the second round of the competition after beating Finland’s Otto Virtanen in straight sets with a score of 6-3, 6-2. The second-round contest will take place on Thursday.