Denis Shapovalov and Thanasi Kokkinakis had a hilarious chat about chair umpire Mohamed Lahyani (Image: Ultimate Tennis Showdown)
Thanasi Kokkinakis has jokingly called out renowned tennis umpire Mohamed Lahyani for his mid-match antics.
The gold-badge official often takes a theatrical approach to calling the score, and players have noticed that he will emphasise when they are facing break points.
While chatting to Denis Shapovalov, former Australian Open doubles champion Kokkinakis joked that it was Lahyani’s way of telling them “you’re f*****”.
Kokkinakis and Shapovalov have both had their own run-ins with umpires. The Australian erupted at Katarzyna Radwan-Cho during the 2023 French Open when she didn’t allow him to take a toilet break.
In 2017, Shapovalov found himself caught up in a storm when he hit a ball away in anger during a Davis Cup tie, which unintentionally struck chair official Arnaud Gabas in the eye.
The Canadian was disqualified from the match and he now has a friendly relationship with Gabas. But another umpire was on their minds when the duo got together for a sit-down at the recent Ultimate Tennis Showdown – Lahyani.
The Swedish tennis umpire has been in the chair for several big finals and, most notably, called the longest match in tennis history between John Isner and Nicolas Mahut at in 2010.
Mohamed Lahyani is known for the theatrics in his voice while calling the score (Image: Getty)
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And he’s made a lasting impression on the players for his theatrics while calling matches. Lahyani well and truly uses his voice while in the chair – he’s known for loudly shouting out any “corrections” and changes his tone depending on the score.
“Speaking of refs, does anyone notice – I like him, I think he’s a good dude – but Mohamed tries to add so much sauce on it,” Kokkinakis said. “So much. I like Mohamed,” the recent Belgrade champion replied.
Kokkinakos continued: “I like him too, ripper guy. Have you noticed, if you’re playing, say you’re down 0-30, you go down 0-40, he will will say the score as if you’re f*****, you’re about to get broken.”
His comments left Shapovalov and – who was also at the table – in stitches. “Dude, he’s staring at you, he’s like, love-40. Like you’re done,” the world No. 77 laughed, dramatically emphasising the 40.
“He’s like, ‘Thanasi, you got to be better.’ And then he’s like, 0-40. As if he knows the end is near.
“I’m already tight enough, I don’t need the ref adding some f***ing mayo to it, letting me know I’m about to get broken.”
Shapovalov and Kokkinakis will be back in action at the upcoming UTS event in London from December 6 to 8. Meanwhile, Thiem is enjoying the early days of retirement after ending his career at the Vienna Open in October.