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Sunday July 5, 2009

Murray waiting for an apology from umpire

WIMBLEDON
ALL ENGLAND CLUB, LONDON

OVER the past fortnight Andy Murray has had a congratulatory note from Queen Elizabeth, a good luck message from actor Sean Connery and now he wants a letter of apology from umpire Pascal Maria.

The third seed’s dream of becoming the first British man to play in a Wimbledon final since 1938 was wrecked by American Andy Roddick on Friday but that did not mean the Scot was ready to forget about what happened during the match.

He was particularly irked by a code violation he was handed by the French umpire for audible obscenity while trailing 6-4, 4-6, 4-1.

Screaming in frustration at a missed forehand, the Scot urged himself to “Come on pass” but it appeared that those around him had misheard him.

In a heated exchange with the umpire, he told Maria: “What did you think I said? I said ‘Come on, pass’. You are wrong, not maybe, 100 per cent.”

Later in the news conference, he voiced his disappointment with the way the incident had been handled.

“You can count the amount of times that you get given a code violation when you said something at the back of the court quietly, and the line judge goes up to the umpire and tells him.

“If he gives me a code violation and I argue it, he could also just ask one of the line judges (and ask) what I said.

“When you say like, ‘Hit the pass’ and you get a code violation for that, it’s a bit disappointing. So I hope I get an apology,” he added with a wry grin. — Reuters

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