Rafa Jódar and Luciano Darderi They have been forced to stop their quarterfinal match of the Rome Masters 1000 due to the smoke caused by the fireworks that were set off at the end of the Italian Cup of football, which pitted Inter Milan and Lazio.
Jódar dominated the duel at the time of suspension, 6-5 and 0-15. At the same time, the electronic system had broken down, the official argument for which the chair umpire decided to suspend the game.
Aerial image of the Rome headquarters.
“The smoke is not going away“Rafa exclaimed to the referee.”How will you know if the system already works?“, he questioned the judge, with the clear desire to continue playing.
“I haven’t seen anything for a long time“, Darderi told his bench. It is worth remembering that the Olympic Stadium in Rome, venue of the cup final, It is about 500 meters from the slopes of the Foro Italico.
The chair umpire speaks with Jódar and Darderi.
A scheduling problem
The Rome quarterfinal match between Jódar and Darderi He was seven minutes away from the regulatory limit to start an official commitment of the circuit, which is 11:00 p.m., according to the rule since 2024.
The young Rafa He already experienced a similar situation at the Mutua Madrid Open with Joao Fonseca. In that case the margin was 10 minutes, although the management of the Madrid tournament had the wild card of the permission that the ATP gave them to be able to hold matches until 11:30 p.m..
