Just a few weeks ago I expressed that officiating in tennis needed an overhaul. The phantom foot-fault call on Serena reinforces my view point. You are officiating in the most highly viewed tennis tournament there is and you are going to make a foot-fault call that is not conclusive on video replay? Are you serious? Now you can argue that the lady lines person deserved to be working on the main stage, but I’m not buying it! We have a philosophy in football officiating called the Whale philosophy, which means you catch all the whales, but let the minnows go. Basically make sure your calls are big and show up on tape.
I could ramble on forever on the poor officiating in tennis, but my focus point is on the reaction to the call by Serena. Was her behavior wrong? Was the punishment enough? I’m on the fence with her reaction. I think she had every right to show her displeasure with the horrible call. I do not believe she had the right to make a threat such as she made. I’m all in favor of her screaming and yelling and even calling the official bad names, but a threat is unacceptable. If a basketball coach came out on the floor and told the ref that he was going to shove the ball down his throat, what do you think the punishment would be? It would probably cost him his job! I’m not saying that Serena should be banned from WTA events, but the punishment she received was a joke! A $10,000 fine and a half hearted apology.
The unfortunate part of all this is that two great weeks of exciting tennis and some wonderful story lines, is all over shadowed by three wrongs! A wrong call by the official, a wrong reaction by Serena, and a wrong punishment for her reaction, leaves tennis with a black eye during the last major event of the season. Not the perfect ending for the game!
Tracy Lynch
Wholesale Accounts Manager
Lee Tennis Court Products
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