Roger Federer produced yet another great escape in the Australian Open 2020 as the Swiss saved seven match points against Tennys Sandgren to advance into the semi-finals of the competition. Normally when Federer steps out on the court all the focus is on him but this time around it was not the case as fans could not take their eyes off the chair umpire Marijana Veljovic. The Serbian umpire also grabbed a lot of attention when she warned Federer over the use of a cuss word during the third set of the quarterfinal clash. Australian Open 2020: Roger Federer Advances to Semi-final After Winning Five-set Thriller.
Marijana Veljovic, the chair umpire in Roger Federer vs Tennys Sandgren quarter-final clash was under the limelight as all eyes around the world were drawn to her. Even Canadian tennis player Eugenie Bouchard was not able to concentrate on the match as she tweeted ‘the umpire in the roger/tennys match is so pretty.’
Marijana Veljovic
Chair umpire Marijana Veljovic, just not having it from Federer #ausopen pic.twitter.com/WGq897DJtR
— Ryan Métivier (@ryanmetivier) January 28, 2020
Eugenie Bouchard
the umpire in this roger/tennys match is super pretty 😍
— Genie Bouchard (@geniebouchard) January 28, 2020
Bouchard wasn’t the only one awestruck by the woman behind the microphone as google searches quickly spiked for the Serbian. Fans around the world wanted to know more about who the umpire was.
Google Searches
Rising search terms related to "Roger Federer" on Google trends 😂😂😂😂😂.
Marijana Veljovic is the real star of today. #AusOpen pic.twitter.com/QNHp3JANVj
— Brendan Bradford (@1bbradfo) January 28, 2020
The Chair Umpire
The best thing about this Federer-Sandgren match is Marijana Veljovic ❤️#AusOpen
— Shivraj (@ShivrajDixit) January 28, 2020
Game! Set! Match!
Game, set and match, Marijana Veljovic. 🥰 #AusOpen
GIF: @doublefault28 pic.twitter.com/pH7kNYTPvP
— Dawid Żbik (@zbikdawid) January 28, 2020
Speaking of the incident between the umpire and Roger Federer, Marijana Veljovic handed the Swiss player an audible obscenity code violation in the third set. It was reported that the 38-year-old had muttered an R-rated German word for which he was warned. Fans Hail Roger Federer After His Australian Open 2020 Quarter-Final Win Over Tennys Sandgren, Call It ‘Outrageous’.
Veljovic received her umpiring gold badge in 2015 and since then has been on the chair for some of the biggest tennis matches. In 2018 she officiated the 2018 Australian women’s singles final and in 2019 she looked over the Wimbledon women’s singles final. She was the also behind the chair in the 2019 Fed Cup Final.
(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Jan 28, 2020 03:00 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).