Top 10 Worst Tennis Umpire Decisions Line Calls

In Grand Slam men's singles events in the open era.

10. Henri Leconte v Andres Gomez Wimbledon 1987
Because Leconte made a joke of this, the error went almost unnoticed, but this was a very bad call.

9. Albert Ramos Vinolas v Viktor Troicki Wimbledon 2016
Ramos Vinolas was serving for the match. Then he hit a serve that was called out, but the umpire decided to overrule. Troicki was not too happy about this decision.

8. John McEnroe v Tom Gullikson Wimbledon 1981
Who will ever forget when McEnroe hit a serve on the line and "chalk flew up". Could the umpire really be serious when he called that serve out?

7. Jimmy Connors v Aaron Krickstein US Open 1991
At a crucial stage deep in the second set tie break, Connors hit a smash onto the line. Krickstein protested and the umpire overruled the linesman and called it out. Connors' famous tirade has gone into tennis history.

6. Lleyton Hewitt v Andy Roddick US Open 2001
At 4-5 in the fifth set, the umpire decided to overrule and called a shot out from Roddick that landed on the line. Mr. Roddick was not too happy about the ruling!

5. Roger Taylor v Bjorn Borg Wimbledon 1973
This was back in the 1970s, long before the days of professional umpires that travelled the circuit. The umpire said "Game, set and match Taylor", then failed to enforce this and then acted out a farcical set-piece with the linesman "what are you saying linesman? Out? Play a let please gentlemen!" Thankfully this sort of umpiring is a thing of the past now.

4. Michael Chang v Jaime Oncins US Open 1996
Chang and Oncins were deep into the fourth set tie break when an unusual point occurred. Did Chang hit the ball into the net, did Oncins hit the net with his racket, did Chang hit the ball for a winner? The umpire seemed confused. Chang and Oncins both protested to the umpire quite politely. If this incident had taken place in a McEnroe v Connors match, there would probably have been a massive incident. As it was, the incident in this match was rarely referred to afterwards.

3. Ivan Lendl v Slobodan Zivojinovic Wimbledon 1986
Lendl hit a serve out that was called out, but the umpire decided to overrule the decision. Then Zivojinovic decided he would not play on any more. Fortunately after several minutes he changed his mind.

2. Robin Soderling v Fernando Gonzalez French Open 2009
By now Hawkeye challenges were the norm on stadium courts of the Australian Open, Wimbledon and the US Open. The French Open had for many years required the umpire to get down off his chair and check the mark. This system works fine when the right mark is checked, but when the umpire checked the wrong mark in this match, it did not go down well with Gonzalez!

1. Andre Agassi v Tommy Haas Wimbledon 1998
In 35 years watching tennis, I have never seen a ball that was so far out that was called in. Agassi was astonished at the umpire's refusal to overrule this atrocious call.