Roger Federer frequently graced the tennis court with calmness and professionalism that boosts his stature of a sporting legend.
The retired Swiss star oozed composure during a glittering 20-time Grand Slam winning career, but he couldn’t always keep a level head.
Federer entered the 2013 Indian Wells Open off the back of his fourth tournament win from the year before.
As the second seed he entered in the second round, where he beat Denis Istomin before overcoming Ivan Dodig in the third.
Stan Wawrinka awaited in an all-Swiss last 16 clash that saw Federer uncharacteristically show his frustrations in a controversial moment.
At one set apiece and 0-30 down in the third game of the third set, Federer wanted to challenge his serve as he thought it landed wide.
There was no call from a line judge though so play continued, and he then hit Wawrinka’s return with a half-volley into the net.
As a result, the umpire Fergus Murphy didn’t allow him to make the challenge and Federer found himself 0-40 down.
He protested the decision to Murphy, who claimed: “That’s just too many shots Roger, I can’t allow it.
“I played, what, two shots? One shot I played,” Federer said, but the umpire replied: “Well it’s one shot too many, I can’t allow a challenge in that case.”
Federer then called for the ATP supervisor Lars Graff to walk onto the court, with the argument still going whilst they waited.
Murphy said that it was a judgement call and it’s factual, but Federer disagreed: “It’s happened all so quick, so I can challenge my own call.”
Murphy understood what he was saying, although the player refuted this, adding: “You can in theory, but not with that case because you hit the second shot.”
“But if it goes in, I can challenge. Just because I missed, I can’t?” asked Federer, to which the umpire said: “No, no, no.”
It was at this point that Graff arrived at the pair stood to the side of the court, with Murphy explaining their argument to him.
“Roger served, Stan hit it back, ball bounces, Roger hits the ball in the net then wants to challenge, I’m not allowing the challenge.
“A half a split second challenge, you saw it,” Federer insisted, although had little to no support from the supervisor.
“It’s his decision, I cannot change that, it’s a question of fact,” Graff said and when asked if he agreed with the decision, replied: “I’m not saying if I disagree or not.”
Once play resumed, Wawrinka won the deciding point in the game to take a 2-1 lead in the third set ahead of his next serve.
Federer took to his chair for a break but continued his argument with Murphy regarding the decision not to accept his challenge.
“You want me to press freeze frame when I half-volley my shot, just to have the time to think about it?” he asked slightly sarcastically.
Murphy replied: “Well, the best thing would be not to hit the second shot, then we can let you challenge.”
“You’re a tennis player, right? Play everyday, five hours…” a curious Federer asked Murphy, who stuck to his view on the situation.
“It’s the number of shots. If you serve…,” the umpire later reiterated, although Federer said: “It’s not the number of shots.
“Just because it hit the net, doesn’t mean the point’s not naturally, right away, everything’s done.”
However, Murphy concluded the debate by batting away his protests once again as fans awaited the rest of the match.
“I’m not basing it on the fact that it went into the net, I’m basing it on the fact that you hit it twice.”
Fortunately for Federer, he came from behind to win the third set 7-5 and therefore beat Wawrinka for a spot in the quarter-finals.
But his hopes of winning back-to-back Indian Wells titles were smashed by a straight sets defeat to fellow tennis icon Rafael Nadal.
Federer later won the tournament for a fifth time in 2017, a record tally he shares with the equally brilliant Novak Djokovic.
