As they always say, it ain’t over till it’s over. In one of the most bizarre matches in recent years, Roger Federer overcame Tennys Sandgren, a nagging groin injury and even a reported defeat to advance to the Australian Open semifinals for the fifteenth time in his career. Visibly hampered, Federer saved three match points on his serve down 4-5 in the fourth set. A few minutes later, Sandgren squandered four more match points in a tiebreak. In the fifth, Federer punished the American.
While only a few die-hard fans would have expected Federer to turn things around, a match is never officially finished until the handshake. But late in the tiebreak, Spanish speaking fans received a push notification from the official ATP app reading “Sandgren Knocks Out Federer in Melbourne” with a subheading: “The American reaches his first Grand Slam semifinal.”
This was a fairly remarkable report as the the match hadn’t ended, but the ATP had already declared the upset official. Here’s an English translation of the rather premature report that arrived:
“Upset completed. Tennys Sandgren has reached his first career Major semifinal after defeating Roger Federer 3-6 6-3* 6-3* 7-6* at the Australian Open. The American, a quarterfinalist in 2018, extended his love affair in Melbourne Park, obtaining a historic result that nobody will forget. In front of a packed Rod Laver Arena and displaying limitless faith, the American was able to upend the six-time champion in an evening to remember.”
But the ATP appeared to have jinxed Sandgren. The American did not in fact complete the upset, with Federer somehow rallying to claim a 6-3 2-6 2-6 7-6(8) 6-3 win to book his spot in the last four. Of course, mistakes are easy to make, but the ATP will surely be regretting this blunder, having forgotten the cardinal rule of sports reporting: wait for the end of the match before you hit publish.
P.S. They didn’t even get the second and third set scores right.
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