Sprem shows no sympathy for axed umpire

Croation Karolina Sprem showed little sympathy towards the umpire axed for a scoring gaffe during that second round match.

Croatian Karolina Sprem, who dumped Venus Williams out of Wimbledon earlier this week, showed little sympathy towards the umpire axed for a scoring gaffe during that second round match.

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"Bad luck for him," she said on Sunday after reaching the fourth round with a win over American Meghann Shaughnessy.

"We have so many people on the court and they need to know the score, not me. It was really big moment for me, and I didn't think about this."

British umpire Ted Watts made an error in the second set tiebreak of Thursday's match against twice former champion Venus when he awarded Sprem a point when she had faulted on a first serve.

The Croatian went on to win 7-6 7-6 and inflict on Venus her earliest Wimbledon defeat in seven years.

The following day it was agreed to be "in the best interests of both parties if (Watts) takes no further part in the event," Wimbledon referee Alan Mills said.

A number of players including Andy Roddick and Serena Williams were quick to comment on the incident, some suggesting Sprem must have known she had received a point in error and that she should have handed it back.

"I don't care. I don't care. This is behind me," she said when asked if the criticism had upset her.

"A little bit, yeah, because I don't know. Because in this situation I didn't know what to do. And I was like confused.

"I didn't know what's happening. If I didn't know what was the score, then maybe she knows. But if she didn't know, then umpire supposed to know but...

"I don't have problem with this. I don't want to talk about him (Roddick) or about Serena."