Shanghai Masters umpire takes drastic action after Holger Rune declares 'I'm not lying'

A long-standing tennis umpire took unusual measures when claimed he wasn't "lying" about a ball mark.

While facing Jiri Lehecka at the Shanghai Masters, Rune couldn't understand why hawkeye was showing his opponent's serves in when he thought there was a gap in the ball mark on the court.

After pleading with Carlos Bernardes mid-match, the official promised to give Rune an explanation. And he came good, getting off his chair for a demonstration.

Rune took the first set against Lehecka but found himself deep in the second when he became unsettled by the hawkeye system. As Lehecka served at 4-4, the 12th seed thought he was sending his shots wide.

He challenged two serves but hawkeye showed they were both on the line. After the second incorrect challenge, the 21-year-old marched to the umpire's chair.

"It's not possible, both times if you look at the line, it didn't touch the line," he protested. When Bernardes informed Rune that he could also see the marks, the Dane continued.

"And also there. It's impossible. Why is it showing that way? I'm not lying," Rune said.

The umpire tried to reassure Rune, informing him that there was a reason why ball marks could have a gap between the line but still be classed as in.

Bernardes replied: "No I agree with you, you're not wrong. I can explain to you after the match because there's an explanation. I will explain to you after."

The world No. 14 was still confused but was happy to wait, and even laughed with the umpire about whether he would be challenging his opponent's next serve.

Lehecka went on to hold easily to lead 5-4. But Rune seemed very keen to get his explanation from the umpire, as he won the lat three games to come through 6-4 7-5.

At the conclusion of the match, Bernardes got off his chair and approached Rune, who was sitting on his bench after getting the win. He picked up a tennis ball to demonstrate why the marks left on the court weren't always correct.

"The ball because it's like this [curved], doesn't leave the mark but it's still touching when they show on the camera," the official explained. "That's the reason we think that it's touching."

Rune was interested by the explanation, pointing out that the ball mark was trusted on clay and hawkeye often wasn't used. Bernardes replied: "Exactly. With the system we can show that it doesn't leave the mark but it's touching."

It comes a day after Bernardes in Stan Wawrinka's match against Flavio Cobolli, declaring it was 0-30 to the Italian instead of 15-15. The incident went viral among tennis fans on social media.