Serena and Naomi

Sep 14, 2018 Features / Columnists, Peeping Tom

The US Open Women’s Final was turned into a spectacle by the emotional outburst of Serena Williams against the chair umpire. The greatest-ever tennis player was given a code violation for coaching and this seems to have so upset her that she threw a tantrum on the court.
A code violation is any violation of the rules. The violation need not be committed by the player. It can be committed by the coach.
The rules of Grand Slams specify that, “communications of any kind, audible or visible, between a player and a coach may be construed as coaching.” Serena’s coach has admitted to the violation saying that it happens all the time.
The fact that it happens all the time does not make it right. It is liable to be punished and this is exactly what the umpire did.
Serena was not content to protest the code violation but demanded that the umpire apologize. When she was broken in one of the succeeding games, she angrily smashed her racquet on the court, resulting in the loss of a point. Once the first code violation was issued, the umpire could not ignore the second and still be seen as consistent.
Serena continued to insist that the umpire, who had done nothing but enforce the rules, apologize to her. When he was called a “liar” and “thief”, this was clearly taking it too far and left the chair umpire with no choice but to impose a penalty of a game.
It was not the umpire who was responsible for the Finals being mired in controversy. It was the fact that he had exercised his right to impose penalties for violations in the match.
Gender and racial bias should not be introduced to condemn the umpire. It matters not that men are said to get away with far greater tantrums on court. The umpire has taken away a point from Rafel Nadal during a French Open. The arguments about gender and race are mere red herrings being used to divert attention from the emotional outburst by Williams.
Greater respect needs to be shown for umpires. Some umpires are over-tolerant. Serena, unfortunately, found an umpire who was not prepared to stand for any violations of the rules. He believed that there was coaching and he issued a code violation.
The first code violation carries a warning. Therefore, there was no point deduction. But once a code violation had been issued, the umpire was left with no other choice so long as other violations followed. He could not have ignored the smashing of the racquet after the loss of a game.
Having issued a warning for coaching, as long as the second violation took place he had to deduct a point. Moreover, when he felt that his character was put into disrepute, he had no choice but to deduct a game because this is what the rules state.
It was unfortunate that a fine exhibition of tennis by a young lady, playing her first Grand Slam Finals was overshadowed by this unsavory incident. But for too long, some of the world’s top players have gotten away with abuse of umpires.
Umpires must be respected, otherwise the game will suffer terminal damage. One umpire decided that he was being firm and he was. The game benefits from umpires who are sticklers for rules.
Not all umpires, of course, are the same. Some will take abuse and others will not. The umpire in the US Opens Female Finals was not prepared to take it and so he deducted a game after the third violation. But, as mentioned before, once he had called a first code violation, he had little choice when other violations followed to deduct first a point and then a game. Those are the rules and tennis without rules would be reduced to theatre.

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