Lorenzo Musetti escapes French Open disqualification after kicking ball at line judge

Lorenzo Musetti escaped being disqualified from the French Open after accidentally kicking a ball at a line judge during this quarter-final win over Frances Tiafoe.

The Italian progressed to his first Roland Garros semi-final after beating Tiafoe in four sets and will play defending champion Carlos Alcaraz on Friday for a place in the final.

But the eighth seed had a fortunate escape during his contest with Tiafoe when Musetti risked being defaulted from the tournament after he struck a line judge by volleying the ball with his foot.

Speaking after the match, Tiafoe said the lack of punishment for Musetti was “comical” and the Italian admitted he was “scared” of potentially being thrown out of the tournament.

Musetti, who had lost the previous point on serve and was down 3-5 in the second set, was receiving balls from a ball boy when he dropped one of them behind the baseline as he faced the back of the court.

Instead of reaching down to catch it, the 23-year-old decided to swing his left foot at the ball, kicking it on the half-volley.

The ball unintentionally struck the line judge in the chest and when he realised his mistake, Musetti moved towards her before holding his racket up in a gesture of apology.

Musetti received a warning for unsportsmanlike conduct from the chair umpire but no further action was taken, with the Italian going on to win 6-2 4-6 7-5 6-2 and reach the semi-finals.

“Honestly, it was [a] really unlucky coincidence,” Musetti said. “I was a little bit, honestly, scared, because I really didn't want to harm nobody of course.

“So I immediately went to the line umpire and I said, ‘Sorry, I apologise to everyone’.

“It was right to have a warning. I think the umpire saw that there was no intention, and that's why [he] let me continue my game.”

Tiafoe said he was surprised Musetti was not disqualified and said the rules were being applied inconsistently.

“Yeah, I mean, obviously he did that and nothing happened,” Tiafoe said in his press conference.

“I think that's comical, but it is what it is. Nothing happened, so there's nothing really to talk about.

“Obviously it's not consistent, so it is what it is.”

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The incident had similarities to when Novak Djokovic was disqualified from the US Open in 2020 for mistakenly striking a line judge in the throat when he hit a ball towards the back of the court.

Djokovic was defaulted by tournament officials following a lengthy on-court discussion after taking a ball from his pocket and hitting it behind him with his racket, striking the female line judge in the throat.

On TNT Sports, Tim Henman, who was disqualified from a Wimbledon men’s doubles match in 1995 when he accidentally hit a ball girl in the head, said Musetti had taken a huge risk.

The former British No 1 said: “By the letter of the law, if you hit or kick a ball away in frustration and it hits a ball boy or a line judge or the umpire, that can be a disqualification.

“When you look at that, the umpire could have interpreted that as a disqualification. However, if Musetti was disqualified for that I think he would have felt very unlucky and very aggrieved.

“But when you kick the ball away, you’ve either got to be a better footballer and hit it in the right direction, or you are risking something like that.”

Defending champion Alcaraz defeated Tommy Paul 6-0 6-1 6-4 in just 93 minutes to return to the French Open semi-finals for the third year in a row and described how it felt to play the “perfect” tennis match by saying: “I could close my eyes and everything went in.”

Almost half of the total points won by Alcaraz were winners, with the Spaniard hitting 40 across the straight-sets win in what was his best display of the tournament so far.

He was interviewed by three-time French Open champion Mats Wilander, who asked Alcaraz how it felt to play the “perfect” match at Roland Garros.

“I could close my eyes and everything went in. My feeling today was unbelievable,” Alcaraz told the crowd. “I was trying to hit every shot 100 per cent. I was trying to hit everything forward. Today was a day where everything went in. It was unbelievable.”