Taylor Townsend & Ben Shelton had a crazy moment in their mixed doubles match yesterday at the US Open. Salisbury is about to hit an overhead & Taylor yells ‘Hit me! Hit me!’ Hindrance was obviously called immediately. But Taylor has guts 😂
(VIDEO) "Hit Me": Townsend given bizarre hindrance call in US Open doubles match
Tennis NewsTuesday, 05 September 2023 at 12:30
Taylor Townsend was given a hindrance call in her mixed doubles match at the US Open following a bizarre incident.
Townsend has had a busy time at the last Grand Slam of the year in New York. The American has been playing in both the mixed and women's doubles with partners Ben Shelton and Leylah Fernandez respectively. Moreover, she was entered into the singles draw at the last minute after Simona Halep was withdrawn due to the verdict on her doping charge being delayed.
Although she was ousted in the third round of the women's singles event by Karolina Muchova, Townsend has now reached the semi-finals of the mixed doubles event. This is despite a strange occurrence that led to a hindrance call in her and Shelton's first-round match against Luis Stefani and Joe Salisbury.
Townsend calls out "Hit me" during match
Talking during points is not permitted, and umpires often mark it as a hindrance, which subsequently gives the players' opponent the point.
In this instance, Townsend and Shelton looked set to lose a point anyway as Salisbury went for an overhead shot before Townsend yelled out "Hit me!" This was not an effective way of saving the point, as the umpire immediately awarded it to the other team and the 27-year-old got hit with a hindrance call, leading many to think that she did it purely for the entertainment of fans.
Indeed, the crowd appeared to have found the strange situation amusing, even though it was against the rules. At that point in the match, the Americans were already up a set, having won the opener 6-4, although they were 1-1 in the second set.
Fans react to bizarre incident
Tennis fans have since taken to social media to react to the unusual occurrence.
"Taylor has guts," wrote The Tennis Letter on X, formerly known as Twitter, followed by a laugh-till-crying emoji.
"That was funny but I definitely would not wanna get w that overhead," added another.
However, some fans said they didn't find the incident funny, but instead thought it was 'disrespectful' to her opponents.
"It’s not funny but disrespectful?!" commented one.
"Disrespectful to Joe [Salisbury] if you ask me," wrote another.
"What was the point of that?" added a third.
Townsend will play her women's doubles quarter-final match with Fernandez against Gabriela Dabrowski and Erin Routliffe today - Tuesday, September 5.
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