A tip of the cap to the Wimbledon player who caught his hat when it fell off but still won a point

LONDON AP Perhaps Jordan Thompson deserved a tip of the cap for winning a set-ending point at Wimbledon while clutching his hat after it fell off his head during a serve His opponent Friday Luciano Darderi thought that point shouldn t have been awarded to Thompson but the chair umpire disagreed I mean my hat s fallen off before and I know what the rules are It didn t hinder him it hindered me revealed Thompson an Australian ranked th who will face U S Open runner-up Taylor Fritz next So I don t know what he was complaining about At - - against Darderi Thompson used a hat trick to put a lid on the opening set en direction to a - - - - achievement that sent him to the fourth round at the All England Club for the first time On a second serve the backward baseball cap Thompson was wearing slid off as he landed on his follow-through Thompson promptly grabbed it with his left hand and continued to wield his racket with his right hand for a point that wound up lasting seven strokes It was capped by Thompson s backhand volley winner as he ran to the net with hat in hand Has he ever carried that bit of his outfit around during a point before That s the first time I can remember Thompson announced In the moment Darderi thought chair umpire Mohamed Lahyani would stop the point and order them to replay it because of what happened with Thompson s chapeau The th-ranked Darderi who was born in Argentina and represents Italy walked to the sideline pointing in Thompson s direction and pleading his matter with Lahyani At one point Darderi yanked off his own white hat and yelled It s the rule But Lahyani wouldn t budge and Darderi chucked his racket toward the sideline seat drawing several boos from spectators at Court As the conversation between Darderi and Lahyani continued during the changeover between sets Thompson pointed out that the rules address when a athlete s hat hits the court Happened to me a meager times he announced rather than if it s caught out of the air It didn t seem normal to me to play a point with a hat in your hand It was strange Darderi declared at his news conference later But it was just one point It didn t change the match On that both players certainly agreed It s not like it was -all in the fifth deuce Thompson noted Every point s big but it is what it is Howard Fendrich has been the AP s tennis writer since Find his stories here https apnews com author howard-fendrich More AP tennis https apnews com hub tennis Source