WATCH: UCLA tennis player Jorge Plans controversially drops ball on court just as he's about to lose point vs Arizona's Nick Lagaev; calls for let

UCLA men's tennis player Jorge Plans Gonzalez invited controversy on Sunday (March 24) with an unsportsmanlike act against Arizona's Nick Lagaev, which saw him take a spare ball from his pocket and drop it on-court just as his opponent was about to win the point.

Plans Gonzalez was trailing his Canadian opponent 6-7(2), 4-4 when he made a rather dubious play. With the Spaniard serving at 30-30, Lagaev pushed him behind the baseline and was seemingly going to win the point with a drive forehand volley, before his opponent threw a ball on-court.

The UCLA player subsequently muttered "ball, ball, ball, ball, ball" to the umpire, asking him to call a let and replay the point. This move elicited a few jeers from the crowd and was subsequently denounced by many on X (formerly Twitter).

According to the 2022-23 Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA) Rulebook, an umpire may call for a replay of a point, known as a "let', if a ball rolls into the court. However, this rule has obvious loopholes, as evidenced by the above point.

"The Chair Umpire or the Roving Umpire may call a let for a ball that is endangering a player or interruption of play," the rule states.

Jorge Plans Gonzalez, on his part, went on to win the next two games against Nick Lagaev before their match was left unfinished at 6-7(2), 6-4.

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UCLA loses 4-1 to sixth-ranked college tennis team Arizona

University of California Los Angeles (UCLA) didn't enjoy a great campaign against Arizona

UCLA, which is ranked 24th in college tennis rankings, suffered a 4-1 blow-out to Arizona at the Los Angeles Tennis Center. The play-off started on a good note for the away team, as Arizona's Jay Friend and Colton Smith partnered up to defeat Timothy Li and Giacomo Revelli.

The visitors then took a 2-0 lead as Sasha Rozin and Gustaf Strom took down UCLA's Govind Nanda and Jorge Plans Gonzalez. While the home team's Spencer Johnson was able to win his match against Gustaf Strom in singles, the intercollegiate tennis tie was decided when Colton Smith and Jay Friend bested Govind Nanda and Giacomo Revelli in their singles fixtures, respectively.

The matches that were left unfinished were: Jorge Plans Gonzalez (UCLA) vs. Nick Lagaev (ARIZ), Azuma Visaya (UCLA) vs. Casper Christensen (Arizona), and Spencer Johnson/Emon van Loben Sels (UCLA) vs. Herman Hoeyeraal/Eric Padgham (Arizona).

UCLA has a tall order to fill during this intercollegiate season, as they are placed at a lowly 24th in the rankings. Arizona, on the other hand, are placed sixth, having won 16 of their 18 ties this year.