Posted on 09/14/2004 6:28:00 AM PDT by OESY
After 50 years of coaching many of the finest tennis players in the world, I am comfortable saying that the umpire's bad call last week at the Serena Williams/Jennifer Capriati match of the U.S. Open was the worst injustice I have ever witnessed in my half-century career on the courts....
Astonishingly, the umpire, Mariana Alvez of Portugal, overruled the lineswoman's call from her chair about 60 feet diagonally away....
Raising a racket: Ms. Williams was the victim of at least three bad calls in a quarterfinals match at the U.S. Open against Jennifer Capriati. Is instant replay the answer?
To make matters worse, Serena was the victim of at least two other bad calls (again confirmed by instant replay) in the final game of this already controversial match. Ms. Capriati ended up winning the game, the set and the match. Serena was out of the U.S. Open. (Paradoxically, her sister Venus was eliminated from Wimbledon in a match where her opponent was erroneously awarded an extra point in the deciding second-set tiebreaker.)....
Wouldn't it be better to be proactive and create solutions to reduce the number of bad calls?
Over the decades, change has come slowly to tennis, a sport that prides itself on its traditions. Its original rules were established long before television cameras, instant replay, and other immediate-feedback technologies were invented. The umpire's adage, "I calls 'em as I sees 'em," has been the standard of the sport. What the Serena incident has made clear is that tennis can no longer ignore the accuracy -- and, therefore, the integrity -- that replay technology can bring to the game. Other sports, including football, horse racing and even basketball, are now embracing this reality....
(Excerpt) Read more at online.wsj.com ...
I wonder why this didn't make the news as much as that Olympics debacle where it was eventually determed the gold medal would go to the American anyway.
The sad thing is that Serena's father is now claiming that the bad call was the result of racism.
I've seen far, far worse calls than those during the Serena/Jennifer game - the Vilander/McEnroe era was full of games with questionable calls.
Instant replay in tennis may be one of the worst ideas I've heard in a while. We'd have all-day matches and the whining some of these players already do would only increase if they could b*tch about every single call.
Why not implement do-overs and Mulligans in tennis while we're at it?
Who cares, really? Personally, I'd far rather watch amateur sports than professional sports any day. I'm afraid I just can't get all that excited about millionaires batting a ball back and forth.
In Serena's even the announces were confused about who made the final line call. They wer castigating the lines-person until a 2nd or 3rd replay showed the lines-person called Serena's shot in but was overruled by the umpire. If the referee had been called to question the umpire and the lines-person there was a reasonable chance that the referee would have ruled the lines-person's call was correct. Serena never demanded, as was her right, that the referee be called by the umpire.
Venus of course was unquestionably victimized by the inability of the umpire to call the score correctly. She also failed to request the referee to review the scoring.
Always know the rules of the game you are playing.
I could never figure out whether they were that bad or McEnroe was just real vocal in complaining about it. Ha. Years later I heard them interviewing him and he claims you could actually see a mark on the ground where the ball had gone out or whatever… impossible to tell watching it on TV though.
Years and years of single minded effort.
They're not millionaires when they begin and I don't care if any were millionaires in the first place.
Your denigration to their dedication to their sport is small minded.
"Your denigration to their dedication to their sport is small minded."
I'm denigrating nobody. I merely said that I don't watch professional sports. I find amateur sports much more enjoyable.
For example, I much prefer watching my local HS football team play than any NFL team.
That's just my preference, you see.
Computer tracking of the ball is definitely possible, thanks to the fact that with the definite sizing of the court the ability of computers to "watch" ball movement closely.
And don't think for a minute that your local high schoolers aren't dreaming of becoming millionaires kicking, catching, and running a ball around some day.
"And don't think for a minute that your local high schoolers aren't dreaming of becoming millionaires kicking, catching, and running a ball around some day."
Best of luck to 'em. In the meantime, they play their hearts out.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.