Tennis player Olkhovsky praised the referee's decision against Sobolenko at the Australian Open

There is nothing special about the situation that happened to world number one Arina Sobolenko from Belarus in the semi-finals of the Australian Open championship, the decision to give a point to her opponent, Ukrainian tennis player Elina Svitolina, was wrong. Russian tennis player Andrey Olkhovsky told Izvestia about this on January 30.

"Regarding Sobolenko's situation with the referee at the Australian Open, in my opinion, there was nothing extraordinary. The fact that Sobolenko screamed a little longer, I'll say it bluntly: there's nothing special about it. <...> But in my opinion, the decision is wrong, and I would not leave everything at the discretion of the judge in this particular case," he said.

According to the athlete, similar cases have occurred before, for example, with Russian tennis player Maria Sharapova, who, according to Olkhovsky, "exhaled during the stroke."

The tennis player stressed that the peculiarity of such situations is that the decision on them is made by the judge. According to Olkhovsky, the judge could consider that Sobolenko prevented her opponent's blow with her long scream.

"Naturally, that's why the referee gave the opponent a point," Olkhovsky concluded.

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On January 29, Sobolenko's scream was recognized as a hindrance during the Australian Open semi-final against Ukrainian Svitolina. It was noted that in the first set, after Sobolenko thwarted a shot and shouted "ai-ai-ah", the ball still hit the court. However, the referee on the tower stopped the draw, considering that the scream prevented Svitolina, and awarded a point to the Ukrainian tennis player.

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