Angry David Nalbandian today urged tennis chiefs to remove Kader Nouni from Grand Slam tournaments after the umpire made a dreadful mistake during the Argentine's Australian Open defeat.
Nalbandian lost 4-6, 6-3, 2-6, 7-6, 10-8 to 16th seed John Isner and claimed the umpire blundered with the final set tied at 8-8 because he is more used to the slower women's game.
Isner, trailing 40-30, saw his first serve down the middle judged out by the linesman but that call was overruled by the umpire.
Amid the noise Nalbandian asked what had happened, looked at the mark and then asked to use the video challenge system. However, the umpire said the player had taken too long to request the challenge and refused it.
Had Isner been forced to serve again the pressure would have been on him but instead the game went to deuce and the American took charge.
At the end of the second-round match, which lasted four hours and 41 minutes, Nalbandian threw his racket onto the court and refused to shake the umpire's hand.
The 2002 Wimbledon runner-up said: "I didn't lose because of that but it was a very bad situation. Can you be that stupid to do that in that moment? It was amazing. I don't think he is going to be able to do this kind of match in future - no doubt about it. I've never seen something like that. The ATP have to check what they're doing for the umpires. He spends most of his time on the women's tour and they serve slower there."
