The controversial elimination suffered by a Colombian tennis player in Ecuador.

© Taken from @_federtennis on Instagram

Tennis

The athlete was eliminated from the Ambato Challenger due to an external situation unrelated to the game.

Colombian tennis player Nicolás Mejía experienced a particular situation during his quarterfinal match at the Ambato Challenger in Ecuador against Juan Pablo Varillas, where Mejía was eliminated. During the most critical part of the match, when his opponent was serving for Match Point, Mejía was distracted by a ball boy and was not able to pay attention to his rival's serve, resulting in him losing the game on that play. At that moment, Mejía requested a replay of the point, but the referee ignored the player's request.

"Losing a match in the way it ended hurts a lot. I had never seen anything like it in my life. I shouldn't have stopped the point, that's clear, but the movement of the ball boy dropping one of the balls on the last point of the match really distracted me, so I stopped," Mejía commented about what happened. He also stated that he was more indignant about Varillas' attitude than the referee's: "He didn't even want to stay on the court to see what the supervisor and the referee would resolve; he just grabbed his bags and ran off the court." Finally, he put the issue aside and focused on the positive things that the tournament brought him: "It was a good week for me, despite what happened. I played at a good level throughout the week, and that's what's important. I will keep working because good things are coming."