"How many sh*tty umpires are in the WTA" - Fans vexed as Erika Andreeva left in tears after losing controversial point despite bizarre bee disruption

Erika Andreeva was left in tears after she controversially lost a point when a bee hindered her during the opening-round match of the 2024 National Bank Open against Marina Stakusic. This left the fans furious who thought the decision was unfair to the Russian.

After coming through the qualifiers to enter the main draw of the National Bank Open, Andreeva faced home favorite Stakusic in the opening round. The women put on a thrilling two-hour and 47-minute show in which the Candian came back from a set down to win (5)6-7, 6-1, 6-4.

However, a bizarre incident took place during the deciding set on Stakusic's serve. The Russian who was awaiting the serve was hindered by a bee and hence was unable to return Stakusic's serve. The umpire said that he didn't see the hindrance and hence had to give the Canadian the point.

Her many pleas came to no avail as Erika Andreeva ended up losing the point and was left in tears.

Fas found the decision to be unfair and took to X (formerly Twitter) to voice their opinions with one fan calling out the umpires on the WTA tour.

"How many sh*tty umpires are in the WTA???! This is nuts."

Another fan claimed that the 20-year-old shouldn't have lost the point and felt that there was no argument needed.

"She should have not lost the point, period! Not even an argument needed here!"

Here are some other reactions from the fans.

"It is becoming a trend with the umpires! @WTA and @atptour DO BETTER! TRAIN THEM BETTER! These kinds of calls can make or break a match," a fan opined.

"Umm why couldn’t he ask for replay ??" a fan questioned.

"Another reason tennis needs VAR. Because it doesn’t matter if you saw, being swarmed by a bee matters. What if a player is allergic? Like stop being so arrogant in the chair, same as the umpire at Olympics to Busta/Granollers. Umpires getting too expressive and nasty," a fan mentioned.

"These umpires wow, getting worse and worse. ATP and WTA must do something, a fan said.

A brief look into Erika Andreeva's 2024 season so far

Erika Anreeva (Image Source: Getty)

Erika Andreeva has won just four out of 14 main-draw matches so far on this season's WTA Tour. However, a few quarterfinals runs in WTA 125 events helped the Russian break into the Top 100 of the WTA rankings for the very first time in her career.

Andreeva her very first Grand Slam win this season at Wimbledon, beating Emina Bektas 7-6(5), 3-6, 6-3 to book her place in the second round, where she lost 2-6, 3-6 to eventual semifinalist Donna Vekic.

The 20-year-old is currently ranked 88th in the world, 65 places behind her younger sister Mirra Andreeva.