A shoe mishap struck Greek top seed Stefanos Tsitsipas for a third consecutive match Friday at the ATP Washington Open but could nOt stop him from continuing his impressive run.
Tsitsipas, who will rise to world number five on Monday, defeated French 10th seed Benoit Paire 7-5, 6-0 in a 74-minute quarter-final, but not until after his laces broke at a key moment and he changed to a new left shoe.
That delay brought complaints from Paire and a statement shoe change by the Frenchman in what quickly became known as "Shoe-gate."
With Tsitsipas up 2-0 and serving at deuce, his left shoelaces broke and he delayed the game while going to his chair for a new shoe.
"My laces are breaking on the last hole, when I'm sliding forehand side. My laces touch the ground," Tsitsipas explained. "There's a friction that causes the breakage of my shoelaces."
Paire, irked by the unexpected stoppage, complained to the umpire to no avail.
"In a way he was right," Tsitsipas said. "It has happened many times in the past. I've been struggling with it.
"I'm not doing it on purpose. Some people think I'm doing it on purpose. It always happens in crucial moments when I'm trying really hard to give everything on the court.
"It's very irritating for me to keep playing with a shoe that's not tight. It can fall off at any moment during the rally. Once in Barcelona it happened."
Later, Paire halted the match to make his own shoe change, giving the umpire a mournful look as he pointed to his left shoe while walking to his chair in what appeared to be a protest.
"That was funny," Tsitsipas said, chuckling at the memory of Paire's move. "I didn't know whether to laugh or keep a serious face. It was hilarious."
Australia's Nick Kyrgios, who will face Tsitsipas in the semi-finals, added: "It was quite humorous."
Tsitsipas said that he and Paire were on good terms after the match, laughing together as they shook hands at the net.
"He even told me there was nothing between him and me with the shoelace thing," Tsitsipas said.
Shoemaker Adidas has sent him an extra four or five pairs of only left shoes because of his issues.
He is also trying to adjust his footwork, but for now Tsitsipas and his rivals must live with it.
"I know it can be frustrating sometimes when you take too much time and it's 40-all and a big time in the match," Tsitsipas said.
"But it's inside the rules."
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Persuasion
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The Vile
Starring: Bdoor Mohammad, Jasem Alkharraz, Iman Tarik, Sarah Taibah
Director: Majid Al Ansari
Rating: 4/5
Tips to keep your car cool
- Place a sun reflector in your windshield when not driving
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Iran's dirty tricks to dodge sanctions
There’s increased scrutiny on the tricks being used to keep commodities flowing to and from blacklisted countries. Here’s a description of how some work.
1 Going Dark
A common method to transport Iranian oil with stealth is to turn off the Automatic Identification System, an electronic device that pinpoints a ship’s location. Known as going dark, a vessel flicks the switch before berthing and typically reappears days later, masking the location of its load or discharge port.
2. Ship-to-Ship Transfers
A first vessel will take its clandestine cargo away from the country in question before transferring it to a waiting ship, all of this happening out of sight. The vessels will then sail in different directions. For about a third of Iranian exports, more than one tanker typically handles a load before it’s delivered to its final destination, analysts say.
3. Fake Destinations
Signaling the wrong destination to load or unload is another technique. Ships that intend to take cargo from Iran may indicate their loading ports in sanction-free places like Iraq. Ships can keep changing their destinations and end up not berthing at any of them.
4. Rebranded Barrels
Iranian barrels can also be rebranded as oil from a nation free from sanctions such as Iraq. The countries share fields along their border and the crude has similar characteristics. Oil from these deposits can be trucked out to another port and documents forged to hide Iran as the origin.
* Bloomberg
Prop idols
Girls full-contact rugby may be in its infancy in the Middle East, but there are already a number of role models for players to look up to.
Sophie Shams (Dubai Exiles mini, England sevens international)
An Emirati student who is blazing a trail in rugby. She first learnt the game at Dubai Exiles and captained her JESS Primary school team. After going to study geophysics at university in the UK, she scored a sensational try in a cup final at Twickenham. She has played for England sevens, and is now contracted to top Premiership club Saracens.
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Seren Gough-Walters (Sharjah Wanderers mini, Wales rugby league international)
Few players anywhere will have taken a more circuitous route to playing rugby on Sky Sports. Gough-Walters was born in Al Wasl Hospital in Dubai, raised in Sharjah, did not take up rugby seriously till she was 15, has a master’s in global governance and ethics, and once worked as an immigration officer at the British Embassy in Abu Dhabi. In the summer of 2021 she played for Wales against England in rugby league, in a match that was broadcast live on TV.
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Erin King (Dubai Hurricanes mini, Ireland sevens international)
Aged five, Australia-born King went to Dubai Hurricanes training at The Sevens with her brothers. She immediately struck up a deep affection for rugby. She returned to the city at the end of last year to play at the Dubai Rugby Sevens in the colours of Ireland in the Women’s World Series tournament on Pitch 1.
Who's who in Yemen conflict
Houthis: Iran-backed rebels who occupy Sanaa and run unrecognised government
Yemeni government: Exiled government in Aden led by eight-member Presidential Leadership Council
Southern Transitional Council: Faction in Yemeni government that seeks autonomy for the south
Habrish 'rebels': Tribal-backed forces feuding with STC over control of oil in government territory
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
