Leandro Riedi gets a spectator sent off at the US Open | OneFootball

Francisco Cerúndolo, the Argentine tennis player with the best ATP ranking, 19th, suffered a tough defeat in the second round of the US Open. The Buenos Aires native, who was trying to reach the third round of the New York Grand Slam tournament for the first time, fell to Swiss Leandro Riedi, currently ranked 435th but 117th last August, by 3-6, 4-6, 6-4, 6-4 and 6-2, in 3h35m. This, despite the fact that the European experienced an unpleasant situation on court 5 of the National Tennis Center, Flushing Meadows, New York.

During a break in the fourth set, Riedi bitterly and vehemently protested to the umpire. "He's betting! Every time I lose, he writes to me saying he hopes my mother dies. Get him out of here!" he demanded of the chair umpire, after a shouting match and insults between the tennis player and the involved spectator. The complaints from the stands came after he lost the service being 4-2 up in that set.

The umpire proceeded at the request of the Swiss and called the tournament security to remove the spectator in question. Despite the tense moment, Riedi set his great comeback to win the battle.

The Swiss was born in Frauenfeld in 2002, in the context of a family dedicated to aviation. A generations-old tradition that Leandro broke by leaning towards tennis. From an early age, he was labeled as a prodigy who had the necessary qualities to join the new batch of professionals. Among those who believed was his compatriot and idol of generations Roger Federer, as ESPN's site recalls. In 2020, His Majesty gave a clinic aimed at the promises of his country, among them, Riedi. "It has been a unique experience. We went to Dubai to train with the best tennis player of all time," said the current 435th in the world ranking.

Betting is a widespread problem in tennis, against which Argentine Marco Trungelliti has been a flag bearer, with brave complaints. Gamblers – of chance, not tennis – often harass athletes from the stands, depending on what suits them in the result according to what they have bet. In the most serious in-person cases, they intimidate the protagonists, with shouts and insults; in non-face-to-face cases, they directly move on to threats, even of death. As Riedi accused.

Nothing that prevented him from defeating Cerúndolo. What the Argentine starred in the fifth set was simply a sort of outdoor psychology session. He broke in the third game and went 2-1, but then he entered a slide with no way out. He lost his serve three times and ended with 12 double faults and 52 unforced errors. As if the one who had been cowed by the insults had been him and not Reidi.

The Swiss, exultant after that bad moment, became the second lowest-ranked male tennis player to reach the third round of a Grand Slam championship this decade, after Jiri Vesely in the 2023 US Open (the Czech was 437th).

And now he's going for more. Knowing that if he is insulted or threatened up close during a break in a match, he has enough character not to be affected and to move forward in a Grand Slam tournament.

This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇪🇸 here.