Tennis player Clara Tauson retires from match in protest against chair umpire

Rising WTA player Clara Tauson retired midway through her W80 semifinal in Poitiers in protest against a series of decisions made by the chair umpire during the match.

The Danish player defeated the likes of Cristina Bucsa, Anastasia Tikhonova and Jodie Burrage to reach the last four, where she locked horns with Croatian Petra Marcinko. Tauson, however, decided to call it quits when the score was 3-6, 6-1, 2-1 in favor of her opponent.

The 19-year-old was unhappy with the referee’s calls and even took a toilet break to get her frustration under control. Later in the match, she received two warnings for time violations which probably pushed her towards withdrawing from the contest.

A tearful Clara Tauson hugs her opponent Petra Marcinko after retiring in protest from the $80K in Poitiers after a series of obvious bad calls at key points in the second and third sets.

A tearful Clara Tauson hugs her opponent Petra Marcinko after retiring in protest from the $80K in Poitiers after a series of obvious bad calls at key points in the second and third sets. https://t.co/9gm2Gy3RAg

According to the match footage, a fair few of the calls, if not all, seemed unfair to her. Clara Tauson was unhappy with at least nine decisions, six in the second set and three in the third set. Despite the line judges making erroneous calls, the chair umpire chose not to intervene.

Here’s the shot. It was break point for Tauson.

Here’s the shot. It was break point for Tauson. https://t.co/F6MoNNUXxm

This was called out when it was clearly on the line

This was called out when it was clearly on the line https://t.co/kJ2VHgNsTH

Clara Tauson rose to fame following an eventful campaign last year. The teenager won the Lyon Open by defeating the likes of Camila Giorgi and Paula Badosa, and the Luxembourg Open, where she got the better of Marketa Vondrousova and Jelena Ostapenko in the semifinals and final respectively. She also reached the Courmayeur Ladies Open final, where she lost to Donna Vekic.

Tauson won three other titles in 2021: the WTA Chicago 125 where she defeated Emma Raducanu in the final, and two ITF tournaments — in Fujairah, United Arab Emirates, and Altenkirchen, Germany. Her performances saw her climb to a career-high World No. 33 in the WTA rankings last year.

However, she has not had the same impact on the tour this year, with injuries breaking her momentum regularly. At the Grand Slams, Clara Tauson reached the Round of 32 at the Australian Open, while making opening-round exits at the Wimbledon Championships and the US Open. She is currently ranked No. 135 in the world.

Clara Tauson joins the likes of Nick Kyrgios and Corentin Moutet in quitting midway through a match

Clara Tauson is hardly the first professional tennis player to quit a match midway. Several players across generations have walked away from their matches abruptly.

The first man to ever default himself was Jeff Tarango, who picked up his bag during his second-round clash with Alexander Mronz at the 1995 Wimbledon Championships and walked away. He was unhappy with the decisions made by chair umpire Bruno Rebeuh, whom the player even accused of being “corrupt”.

One of the more high-profile players to have had disagreements with the officials is Nick Kyrgios, who, unhappy with the umpire’s calls, threw a chair and walked away after receiving an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty at the Internazionali BNL d’Italia in Rome in 2019.

Sometimes, other factors also frustrate players into quitting their contests. Frenchman Corentin Moutet recently retired during his match against Miomir Kecmanovic in Naples as he found the court too slippery for his liking.