Tennis stars change ends MID-GAME in bizarre never-before-seen blunder as new rule confuses even the umpire

BAFFLED tennis stars were forced to change ends MID-GAME in a bizarre never-seen-before blunder.

And the new rule even confused the bungling umpire.

Twitter @tennistvMohamed Lahyani confused the players by forcing them to change ends mid-game[/caption]

Twitter @tennistvArthur Fils was struggling to work out what was going on[/caption]

Twitter @tennistvItalian Luca Nardi had to clarify the rules[/caption]

Frenchman Arthur Fils took on Luca Nardi of Italy in the opening match of tennis’ ATP Next Gen Finals in Jeddah.

The No1 seed prevailed 2-4 4-3 4-2 1-4 4-2 – with the shorter sets one of the various initiatives the ATP are using for the end-of-season tournament for the best 21-and-under male players.

Another relates to the changeovers – with no changeovers after the first game of the set.

And that prompted the confusion at the beginning of the second set.

Having dropped the opener, Fils looked on course to secure a routine hold to kick-start the second as he raced into a 40-0 lead.

But before serving at 40-0, Fils was interrupted by chair umpire Mohamed Lahyani who informed the players they needed to swap ends.

The Swedish official told a confused Fils: “It’s 40-0 you go there and serve. It’s how it is.

“It’s 4-2 you have to be there.”

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World No36 Fils, 19, replied: “I lost this game, it was 3-2, 4-2.”

Lahyani added: “You have to be on this side.”

Nardi, 20, then chipped in: “But why? Because it’s the rule?”

To which the umpire confirmed: “Yes that is the rule.”

Nardi, still clearly getting to grips with the new rules about changing ends, said: “Every set? Doesn’t matter what is the score?”

Lahyani then confirmed: “You should be there yes. So now you go, 40-0 you go there.”

The official took a huge sigh as the players made their way to the opposite baselines before Fils secured the game with a strong serve.

The Amazon Prime Video commentator – in the final event of the streaming platform’s deal before Sky Sports take over for 2024 – said: “Well this is interesting. I’ve never seen this before. It’s going to be a week of adapting, the umpires have got to get used to it.

Twitter @tennistvFils saw the funny side in the end[/caption]

Twitter @tennistvThe 30-0 point was played with Fils to the left of the umpire’s chair[/caption]

Twitter @tennistvThey had switched sides before the next point[/caption]

“I’ve never seen a server change ends mid-game before.

“They basically went to the wrong side at the end of the set. Mohamed realised and asked them to swap.”

It was then clarified that they should have changed ends at the end of the 4-2 opening set and then stayed put for the first three games of the second.

Other innovations applied at the Next Gen Finals include shorter shot clocks, no warm-up on court, sudden-death deuce scoring, sets to four games and fans allowed to move in the stadium during play.

Fans took to Twitter to share their views on the strange incident.

One said: “You could see how bad the umpire felt with his body language, feel bad for him ngl.”

Another wrote: “Although it was a mistake, I appreciate that the umpire corrected himself properly.”

A third added: “Embarrassing honestly – so much noise and no respect to the players.”

A fourth simply typed: “Utterly ridiculous.”

And a final user harshly joked: “The umpire should be fired!”

GettyFils did not let the interruption distract him[/caption]

GettyThe Frenchman prevailed over five sets to land the win[/caption]