‘You know it’s wrong!’ – Joe Salisbury and Rajeev Ram refuse to play over shock Hawkeye ruling at Wimbledon

There were farcical scenes at Wimbledon as Joe Salisbury and Rajeev Ram briefly refused to play their doubles semi-final over a controversial Hawkeye ruling at Wimbledon.

The No. 1 seeds at the All England Club were left incredulous at a decision from the technology at a crucial moment in the second set of their match against Nicolas Mahut and Edouard Roger-Vasselin.

Salisbury and Ram refused to play on until Hawkeye was turned off after the ruling on break point, and had to be eventually persuaded to continue, after which they lost the second set.

The pair believed they had broken serve at 5-5, only for Mahut and Roger-Vasselin to make a speculative challenge given the importance of the moment.

To Salisbury and Ram’s disbelief, Hawkeye ruled that the ball caught the baseline – despite it looking clear to the eye that the ball had drifted comfortably long.

“No way, man!” exclaimed an infuriated Ram as he protested the shock decision along with Salisbury.

“That is absolutely ridiculous. There is no way, no way at all. We’re turning the machine off. We’re not in the future here, man.”

Salisbury added: “There is no chance that is in. You know it is wrong. Can you get the supervisor?”

Initially, the top seeds returned to their seats and said they would not play until umpire Fergus Murphy ensured that Hawkeye was switched off.

Murphy repeatedly made it clear that Hawkeye would not be turned off and the pair would have to carry on – which they eventually did, before losing the set 7-1 in a tie-break to level up the match.

– – –