VIDEO: The weirdest out in tennis history. The ball hit the middle of the court, the system called an out

The mixed quarterfinal at the Australian Open between the home pair of Cabrera, Smith and the Brazilian pair of Stefani, Matos offered perhaps the strangest outing in tennis history. The players, the umpires and the whole arena were in for a shock.

It’s hard to know if anyone would have noticed this match otherwise. Doubles isn’t very popular with the public, let alone mixed doubles. The quarterfinal between Cabrera/Smith and Stefani/Matos offered a very bizarre moment.

The home tennis player, John Smith, opened the match and was the first to serve in the famous Rod Laver Arena. And although he delivered a decent serve, he was in for a real shock.

He aimed his serve almost exactly in the middle of the court reserved for serving, the ball never even came close to the line. Yet the system that replaced the line judges called an out.

All the tennis players were left standing there, as the whole stadium saw the ball fall exactly in the middle. Smith spread his arms and began to claim the ball from the umpire. “The ball didn’t even go in the line,” Smith didn’t understand.

“Yes, that’s strange, very strange. We’ll check it out, ” said a shocked umpire Nic Helwerth. So he picked up the phone and began to investigate the situation with the engineers. “Error in the system. We’ll check it out, but it looks like a system error. Ladies and gentlemen, we are trying to find out what just happened,” the referee explained to the laughing fans.

“We’re playing on one of the greatest courts in the world and this is what happens. Maybe it’s time to bring the linesmen back into action,” said Eurosport co-commentator Nick Brown on the bizarre situation.

Smith and Cabrera eventually lost the match 3-6 and 4-6, but this is a moment they are unlikely to forget.

Source: Australian Open, Twitter