Chile Open final umpire Honorio García finally broke his silence, weeks after the controversy that followed this meeting.

The Spanish sports daily Sports world was thus able to collect for the first time the explanations of the principal concerned about what happened.

He explains:

“At 30-30, there is a very fast strike from Coello which goes towards the back of the court. This bullet seems like a foul to me because it looks like it hits the glass first. I took a while to follow, but as no player reacted, I trusted what I had seen and announced 30-40”

“On the scoreboard at the track it says 30-40 because the referee is controlling it from the tablet. But that's not the case on television, and it confused a lot of people. In fact, during the point, the result of the retransmission was rectified.”

He pursues :

“The players said nothing and the next point was played. When it ended, in favor of Coello and Tapia, I saw that they were kissing to celebrate the victory.

In turn, Lebrón, who in my opinion thought the game was over, went to shake their hands. There, I realized that I had made a mistake in the previous point.

“Galán told me he heard 30-40 and saw it on the scoreboard. And he was right, having two break points is not the same as having two match points against! But there, I could no longer rectify.”

“I told the four that if they agreed, it was game over. Otherwise, as I had made a mistake, it was necessary to play a “punto de oro”.

We know the rest, but the referee takes full responsibility for the fault:

“It is clear that this error comes from me. There were circumstances that didn't help, it's all been said. Tapia and Coello were focused and they didn't listen to me at the time, so we couldn't ask to review the point on the video.

“I don't blame Galán, in fact he did what he had to do because he is a professional. The error is mine.”

“They could have put pressure on me and they didn't”, he says about Tapia and Coello.

Regarding the way he experienced this final, he explains that it “was hard and very long”. Let's hope that in the future, this kind of situation will not happen again...

Eleonore Coulibaly

What a pleasure to be a journalist in the middle of the padel, an attractive growing sport. I hope you enjoy the content offered. See you soon perhaps on the slopes!

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