Why tennis defaults and disqualifications for racket smashes need a change of perspective

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4 hours ago

Welcome back to the Monday Tennis Briefing, where will explain the stories behind the stories from the past week on court.
This week, the tennis default rule reared its head, two players took very different approaches to playing on a deadline, and the French Open champions had mixed fortunes.
Why is an outcome-based approach to bad behavior insufficient?
The past week suggests that potential disqualifications will continue to be judged on the consequences of a player's actions, rather than the actions themselves.
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A fortnight ago, world No. 7 Lorenzo Musetti escaped a default at the French Open. Musetti struck a ball out of frustration and accidentally hit a line judge near her shoulder. The line judge was unhurt and Musetti was allowed to continue with his quarterfinal against Frances Tiafoe, which he went on to win in four sets. The incident was reminiscent of when Novak Djokovic inadvertently struck a line judge and was defaulted from the 2020 U.S. Open — other than the fact that the person involved in the Musetti incident showed no signs of distress.
Then, at last week's HSBC Championships at the Queen's Club in London, Jakub Menšík and Corentin Moutet escaped serious punishment for potentially disqualification-worthy offences. According to the ATP rule book, 'Players shall not violently, dangerously or with anger hit, kick or throw a tennis ball while on the grounds of the tournament site except in the reasonable pursuit of a point during a match (including warm-up).
'For purposes of this rule, abuse of balls is defined as intentionally or recklessly hitting a ball out of the enclosure of the court, hitting a ball dangerously or recklessly within the court or hitting a ball with disregard of the consequences.'
Menšík, the 19-year-old world No. 17 from the Czech Republic, chucked his racket to the floor during the second set of his defeat to Roberto Bautista Agut. He threw it with little force, but it slipped out of his hand and spun off the grass, into the stands. There were no spectators in the first few rows, so nobody was hurt. The chair umpire gave Menšík a code violation warning, the lightest punishment available. Two warnings lead to a point penalty.
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The following day, Moutet received the same punishment for whacking a ball into the stands during his defeat to Great Britain's Jacob Fearnley. Moutet, the world No 80, was defaulted at the Adelaide International three years ago for swearing at the umpire, but escaped the ultimate punishment on Thursday. Then on Saturday, Jack Draper received a warning for smashing an advertising board with his racket after being broken by Jiří Lehečka, but he had escaped one when he hit a ball in frustration.
Whether or not a small yellow ball hit in anger hits a wall or someone's eye comes down to chance. At Wimbledon three years ago, Stefanos Tsitsipas leathered a ball into the crowd and missed a spectator by inches.
Deciding whether or not to default players based on outcomes they cannot fully control leaves tennis in a situation where it will face legitimate accusations of inconsistency the next time an umpire's decision means that someone is defaulted for a similar or even lesser offence because someone has been hurt.
At Roland Garros two years ago, doubles player Miyu Kato and her partner Aldila Sutjiadi were defaulted after Kato accidentally hit a ball kid in the neck when returning a ball to her — not even swatting it in frustration — because the ball kid was in tears.
The best-worst handshake of the year?
There have been a few spicy tennis handshakes this year, but Sunday's between Maria Sakkari and Yulia Putintseva was the most heated of all.
After Sakkari had won their first-round encounter at the Bad Homburg Open in Germany 7-5, 7-6(6), she was put out by Putintseva's curt, no-look handshake at the net.
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Putintseva, the world No. 34 from Kazakhstan who is no stranger to on-court confrontations, gave Sakkari a mock bow in response, prompting Sakkari to say 'just be like a human being'. Things quickly escalated and when Sakkari came over to Putintseva's side of the net, the Kazakh told her to 'go f—' herself.
'F—-ing hell, I'm what?' Sakkari said in response, before adding: 'Nobody likes you. When you shake hands, look at the other person in the eye.'
This brought back memories of Andy Murray saying 'no one likes you on the tour, everyone hates you,' to the Czech player Lukáš Rosol in 2015, after he felt he had been barged by Rosol at a change of ends.
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Sakkari was asked about the incident in her on-court interview and said: 'Let me leave it here and say that I have a respect (for) her as a player but that's it.'
Putintseva, who was booed at last year's U.S. Open when she contemptuously ignored a ball girl who was passing her tennis balls, then posted a photo showing Sakkari avoiding eye contact during handshakes on her social media. Quick handshakes are not uncommon on the WTA Tour, but this level of aggravation between players most certainly is.
How did Marketa Vondrousova make this comeback?
There's one player no woman wants to see next to her name in the Wimbledon draw this week: Markéta Vondroušová.
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One year ago, Vondroušová was preparing to defend her title at the All England Club, playing through pain in her left shoulder. She lost in the first round and had surgery shortly after, missing the rest of the 2024 season. A fortnight ago, Vondroušová shocked herself at Roland Garros in Paris, and not just by winning two matches and coming within a couple of games of beating the world No. 3, Jessica Pegula, in the third round. Most importantly, she played free of pain.
Rarely has a player looked as high-spirited after a loss as the 25-year-old Czech after falling to Pegula in three sets. She was thrilled to have completed her matches and raring to get to the grass.
She showed why in Berlin last week, beating Madison Keys, Diana Shnaider, Ons Jabeur, Aryna Sabalenka and finally Wang Xinyu to win the title. It's a run that tells everyone else on the WTA Tour to watch out — even though any analyst who hadn't already circled Vondroušová's entry in red would be skating on thin ice.
She is a marvel on the organic surfaces, a finalist at Roland Garros as well as a champion at Wimbledon. She can spin the ball every which way. She's a lefty. She has a mean drop shot and a nasty, low, curling cross-court forehand that can break the sideline from virtually anywhere on the court.
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She's also the world No. 72. She's got a decent chance of drawing a seed in the first round, and all 32 of them will be praying that she doesn't. When Vondroušová won it all in west London two years ago, she was the quirky unseeded player with the tattoos and the sphynx cat. She's got a dog now, too, and a game ready to do some damage at a place where she has done it before.
How the French Open finalists fared on grass
The four players who reached singles finals at Roland Garros had a mixed reacquaintance with grass. Sabalenka saved four match points against Elena Rybakina in the match before she fell to Vondroušová. Carlos Alcaraz went to Ibiza, toughed his way through a couple of rounds at Queen's and then found the extra gear to win the title, becoming the first man since Rafael Nadal in 2008 to win the French Open and the Wimbledon warmup in the same year.
So, how to regard last week's losses for Coco Gauff and Jannik Sinner? One a French Open champion, the other a runner-up who came within a point of winning, and neither with a terrific Wimbledon resume.
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Gauff spent a week on a media tour and hanging out with friends following her Paris win. Then she showed up in Germany and played like it, losing in straight sets to eventual Berlin finalist Wang on a day when her head and heart didn't seem to be there. It was reminiscent of Alcaraz's performance at Queen's last year, when he lost to Jack Draper in the second round.
Grass is probably Gauff's worst surface, unless her serve is firing and can get her out of trouble. She's not playing a tournament this week, which means she will head into Wimbledon with just one match as preparation.
Sinner lost in Halle to the eventual champion, Alexander Bublik. Sinner handled Bublik in Paris a couple of weeks ago, but the Kazakh is a nightmare on grass when he is on. Bublik occupies the Vondroušová role in the men's draw at Wimbledon — or would have done, had he not won the Halle title and earned himself a seeding.
Sinner is a little more naturally suited to grass than Gauff, and he has made a semifinal at Wimbledon. But his first serve — key to his rise to the top of the sport and doubly so on grass — has lost some of its reliability in the past couple of weeks. Getting some reps in on that may be more helpful than a few extra competitive matches. Alcaraz spent most of the week at Queen's practicing his first delivery after almost going out of the tournament. That worked out pretty well.
Shot of the week
Jack Pinnington Jones will be looking to do some more of this with his Wimbledon wild card.
Recommended reading:
How tennis wild cards became Grand Slam golden tickets powered by national favoritism
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Two-time Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitová will retire from tennis after the U.S. Open
Man who displayed 'fixated behavior' toward Emma Raducanu applied for Wimbledon tickets
Alexander Bublik beats Jannik Sinner to end 49-match streak
🏆 The winners of the week
🎾 ATP:
🏆 Carlos Alcaraz (1) def. Jiří Lehečka 7-5, 6-7(5), 6-2 to win Queen's (500) in London. It is his second Queen's title in three years.
🏆 Alexander Bublik def. Daniil Medvedev (3) 6-3, 7-6(4) to win the Halle Open (500) in Halle, Germany. It is Bublik's second Halle title in three years.
🎾 WTA:
🏆 Markéta Vondroušová def. Wang Xinyu (Q) 7-6(10), 4-6, 6-2 to win the Berlin Open (500) in Berlin. It is her first title since Wimbledon in 2023.
🏆 McCartney Kessler def. Dayana Yastremska 6-4, 7-5 to win the Nottingham Open (250) in Nottingham, UK. It is the American's third WTA Tour title.
📈📉 On the rise / Down the line
📈 Markéta Vondroušová moves up 92 places from No. 164 to No. 72 after winning the title in Berlin. Beaten finalist Wang Xinyu moves up 17 places from No. 49 to a career high of No. 32.
📈 Alexander Bublik ascends 15 spots from No. 45 to No. 30 after winning the title in Halle, securing a Wimbledon seeding.
📈 McCartney Kessler rises 12 spots from No. 42 to No. 30, securing a Wimbledon seeding.
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📉 Tommy Paul falls five places from No. 8 to No. 13 after an abdominal injury kept him out of Queen's, where he was defending champion.
📉 Anna Kalinskaya drops 11 places from No. 28 to No. 39, putting her outside the top-32 cut for Wimbledon seeding.
📉 Hubert Hurkacz tumbles 10 spots from No. 29 to No. 39, leaving him with the same problem as Kalinskaya.
📅 Coming up
🎾 ATP
📍Mallorca, Spain: Mallorca Championships (250) featuring Ben Shelton, Felix Auger-Aliassime, Gabriel Diallo, Alex Michelsen.
📍Eastbourne, UK: Eastbourne Open (250) featuring Taylor Fritz, Jakub Menšík, Tommy Paul, Jacob Fearnley.
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📺 UK: Sky Sports, BBC (Eastbourne); U.S.: Tennis Channel 💻 Tennis TV
🎾 WTA
📍Bad Homburg, Germany: Bad Homburg Open (500) featuring Jessica Pegula, Iga Świątek, Mirra Andreeva, Naomi Osaka.
📍Eastbourne, UK: Eastbourne Open (250) featuring Barbora Krejčíková, Jelena Ostapenko, Jabeur, Emma Raducanu.
📺 UK: Sky Sports, BBC (Eastbourne); U.S.: Tennis Channel
Tell us what you noticed this week in the comments below as the men's and women's tours continue.
This article originally appeared in The Athletic.
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