Sunday, June 17, 2012

What's Your Opinion: Nalbandian Defaulted At Queens For Hurting Linesman



Here is the news writeup of Nalbandian's default. What do you think of how it was handled?



LONDON (AP) The Queen's Club final was halted abruptly whenDavid Nalbandian injured a line judge, handing the title to Marin Cilic.

The 10th-seeded Nalbandian was leading in the second set Sunday when he kicked the small barrier surrounding the line judge in anger. A piece of the barrier then hit the line judge, causing bleeding on his left shin.

After checking on the line judge, the chair umpire decided to end the match.

Nalbandian insisted he shouldn't have been disqualified.

''Sometimes you get very frustrated on court and it's tough to control that, and sometimes I do a mistake. So it's very tough to end a final like that,'' he said. ''But sometimes we feel so much pressure from the ATP to play a lot of tournaments. They don't do anything (for) us, and today I do a mistake and I have to pay like that.

''I agree I do a mistake but sometimes everybody do a mistake and I didn't feel it had to end like that, especially in a final.''

ATP rules state that any violent action will result in an automatic default.

''It's an unfortunate situation for everyone involved, the spectators, the tournament, the sponsors, the players and the linesman,'' Brad Drewett, ATP executive chairman and president, said in a statement. ''David certainly did not mean for this to happen, however the rules are very clear in a situation like this and causing injury to someone is an automatic default for any player.''

Tournament director Chris Kermode said the unidentified line judge had received first-aid care but needed no further treatment after seeing a doctor.

''It's definitely not the way I wanted to win it,'' Cilic said. ''The match was still open but I can't change it. I'm sorry for the (spectators) that it had to end like this.

''We had some good rallies, and it's hard to see the final end like this.''

The Argentine had been leading the sixth-seeded Cilic 7-6 (3), 3-4 in the grass-court Wimbledon warmup when the incident occurred.

''There is a lot of rules, and sometimes they (ATP officials) don't do anything. The rule book is very big and I can tell you that the ATP do a lot of mistakes to the players and nothing happens,'' Nalbandian said.

Nalbandian was playing his first final on grass since losing to Lleyton Hewitt at Wimbledon 10 years ago. He was bidding to become the first player from Argentina to capture an ATP grass court title since Javier Frana won at Nottingham in 1995.

Nalbandian's last title came in Washington in August 2010.

''We have a sold-out crowd. It's packed. We were watching some great tennis so to have the match end this way is incredibly disappointing,'' Kermode said. ''In sport, these things happen. There's not a lot we can do about it. We are under the governorship of ATP rules and that's how it stands. It's a great crowd, great final. You'd like to think you can bend it, but I can see from their point of view it's difficult.''

10 comments:

RM said...

As I've always said, "Its not the intent of the heart that is at question--its the deeds of the flesh."

And for that he should be defaulted...

Anonymous said...

Wonder if the same decision would have been made if it was one of the Williams sisters?

Anonymous said...

GREAT POINT Anon 9:01...

But, I feel like David has a point too.. there are way to many rules in tennis... most tennis players do not know the rules! I wish it was a little more simple - I bet there would be a lot more players... It is sad to see so many Officials (lines and chair) on a pro match and almost as many people in crowd... keep it simple

Anonymous said...

Anon 11:07
Your comments are confusing to me. You feel that "David has a point too", but you want it kept "simple". In this case it was very simple. If a player does something that injures another person, they are disqualified. David caused an injury, however minor. Simple-disqualify. You say that most players do not know the rules. I agree if you are talking about all players including club and beginning players, but there is no excuse for a professional player not knowing the rules. He should know the rules better than the officials because his career can depend on knowing them. Don't get so emotional-keep it simple. Don't get distracted by the excuses-he was correctly disqualified.

Anonymous said...

I know some officials that wouldn't have issued a code violation at all sine in their minds that's what the player wanted and they didn't want to help them out to lose the match

Anonymous said...

I know some officials that wouldn't have issued a code violation at all sine in their minds that's what the player wanted and they didn't want to help them out to lose the match

Anonymous said...

Wonder if the same decision would have been made if it was Maria Sharapova?

Oscar said...

The line umpire sure is a good actor. He sees lots of free money in his future.

Oscar said...

The line umpire sure is a good actor. He sees lots of free money in his future.

Anonymous said...

Really Oscar, how does one ACT bleeding?

I agree with Anon 11:07, If you don't know the rules for your choosen profession, who is at fault?

According to my legal friend, here this would be negligent battery. Doing something that you should have realized could cause harm.