Tennis Forum banner

Maria Vittoria Viviani got defaulted at AO juniors draw for this

8K views 79 replies 44 participants last post by  Kzm 
#1 ·


Horrible decision by the judge. The ball wasn't hit that hard, plus that is normal behaviour, many do this to give the balls back to the ballboys. We can't see him in the video, but if the kid could have catched the ball instead, nothing would happen...

Terrible decision by the umpire TBH.
 
#4 ·
maybe too harsh
 
#7 ·


Horrible decision by the judge. The ball wasn't hit that hard, plus that is normal behaviour, many do this to give the balls back to the ballboys. We can't see him in the video, but if the kid could have catched the ball instead, nothing would happen...

Terrible decision by the umpire TBH.
The important difference is whether you're hitting it along the ground to the ball kid, which is normal behaviour, or through the air, which isn't. If you swat a ball away high and hard enough for it to hit someone then you run the risk of falling foul of this rule.

In this instance she appears to have hit it into the ground hard enough for it have bounced up and hit the ball kid. It's a strict application of the rule certainly but probably not an incorrect one.

Where I have a problem with this rule is when umpires ignore it. Ostapenko in Auckland last year and certainly Giorgi at Eastbourne 2015 did far worse than this.

I also think that if they're going to default players when it hits someone then a code violation warning is probably appropriate if a player swats a ball away or tosses their racquet high and hard enough that it might hit someone.
 
#10 ·
Was anybody seriously injured?

Could the speed of the ball hit cause that many damage?

Perspective has been lost here - this should not have warranted disqualification.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Them Bones
#12 ·
Umpires have no backbones/are not allowed to take action against the top pros, so they take out the rulebook on children. Awesome.

A player in the main draw hit the same shot at ten times the pace and nothing happened. This is like hitting the ball to the ball kid. Heck Federer guided a missed serve toward a ballkid at the net, at much higher pace, and it hit the ballkid in the head. Absolutely ridiculous decision.
 
#14 ·
Exactly, they need to apply rule to everyone or not at all, it is complete BS... hmmm, somehow that reminds me of something.

meh
 
#17 ·
Just a couple of points. To those people saying that an umpire/supervisor wouldn't dare DQ a player for this in a pro match, Tim Henman was defaulted at Wimbledon for pretty much the same thing. I agree that, more often than not, this rule isn't strictly applied on the WTA and ATP tours,but it's not unheard of. I certainly agree that they need to be consistent though.

I think a lot of people look at this purely from the players point of view and conclude that the rule is unfair because the player isn't intending to hit anyone. That's not the point. If you're playing in a tournament at this kind of level you're surrounded by ball kids, line judges and spectators who are all close by. Smacking balls or hurling racquets around in anger is dangerous. The rule is there to deter players from doing so, for the safety of officials and spectators.

The only real problem I have with the rule is that it's an all or nothing approach based on whether anyone happens to get hit. I'd rather see the practice of smacking balls or hurling racquets in anger earning a warning every time. At the moment, we have a situation where a kid can be defaulted in a case like this one but the incident below passed without even so much as a warning.

 
#20 ·
-snip-

At the moment, we have a situation where a kid can be defaulted in a case like this one but the incident below passed without even so much as a warning.

I remember that vid, though for totally different reasons. I thought she was reaching into a cooler. :devil:
 
#19 ·
Federer sometimes targets the ballkids so that they can make a crowd-pleasing catch. What would happens if one of them didn't saw it and got smacked right in the face? :devil:

You also have to apply all the rules or none at all. It doesn't make sense to be strict and default (!) a junior for this while the pros spend 45 seconds between points and scream their heads off without any consequence.
 
#42 ·
Djokovic sends a ball into the crowd, hitting a spectator.

Sanctioned with a warning, correct.


Same with Federer, should have been defaulted:

What's the difference with today case? (apart he name...)
I think they do make some distinction on whether the ball is hit in anger, or simply the player is redirecting it away from him/herself and towards a ball kid.

There are many instances when a ball can injure someone. We've seen linesmen hit by hard serves (the Stefan Edberg incident being the most extreme of course) but you wouldn't penalize a player for hitting a hard serve. So the point is not that the action is dangerous, but to penalize behaviour done in anger.

I wouldn't immediately default a player for swatting a ball in anger (first time in a match, a warning; second time default) unless I felt they were intentionally targeting someone with it. But I would for throwing a racquet. You can smash your racquet (while keeping hold of it) without risking injury to anyone else.
 
#24 ·
Off course it was justified.

The big problem is that the referees are to scared to go after the big stars of tennis. The same rules should apply for all. There've been situations where top players (Federer, Serena etc.) should've been disqualified, but weren't.

When you chuck hissy fits on court like little B's, shit like this can happen.
 
#26 ·
I agree that the treatment is different when it's about top players. But focusing solely on this case, of course the rule is there not because the tennis players have the intent to hit the people (I think most tennis players aren't psychopaths :oh:), but you have to assess how careless and/or strong was the ball strike. In my opinion, which clearly not everyone agrees, from the video, Maria Vittoria didn't do either there, she probably hit it with a bit more strength than usual, aiming to the ground and to a direction where the ballboy usually is so he could catch it faster. Many players always do that, but she had the misfortune of hitting a ballboy.

BTW Federer, Serena and Djokovic should have been disqualified. Petko is arguable, but the fine should be heavier and she should be suspended for some months if she did that again (we don't need to wait someone being injured to stop that behaviour).
 
#27 ·
I agree that the treatment is different when it's about top players. But focusing solely on this case, of course the rule is there not because the tennis players have the intent to hit the people (I think most tennis players aren't psychopaths :oh:), but you have to assess how careless and/or strong was the ball strike. In my opinion, which clearly not everyone agrees, from the video, Maria Vittoria didn't do either there, she probably hit it with a bit more strength than usual, aiming to the ground and to a direction where the ballboy usually is so he could catch it faster. Many players always do that, but she had the misfortune of hitting a ballboy.

BTW Federer, Serena and Djokovic should have been disqualified. Petko is arguable, but the fine should be heavier and she should be suspended for some months if she did that again (we don't need to wait someone being injured to stop that behaviour).
What did she do?
 
#36 ·
Yes it's girls fault for being a disgusting choke :shrug:

This whole rule needs to be addressed. Yes the umpire was probably technically correct to default her, but based on the circumstances it's quite obvious it was a very extreme punishment. It really sucks for her, coming all the way from Italy just to play a set. No money or points :tape:

The Double standards with top players is becoming a joke. It needs to change.
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top