Break a Tennis Racket And...
Well… it depends… It’s not so rare these days to watch a pro tennis match and see a player smash a racket. Sometimes, chair umpires issue warnings to pro tennis players for racket abuse and sometimes they don’t. It seems to be a judgment call by the umpire. It should not be so subjective a decision. The tennis world has tried many new initiatives and rule changes the past few years in order to make the game of tennis more
entertaining for fans and also to showcase the personalities of the players more. Players do become frustrated when they are playing badly and it’s fine for them to vent their frustrations. However, tennis pros should not be sending the message to both children and adult tennis fans alike who are watching pro tennis matches that breaking $200 tennis rackets, even if they don’t harm anyone else, is the appropriate way to “let off some steam.” Ever seen Rafael Nadal smash a racket? Nadal learned early on that breaking a racket was unacceptable. I’m not suggesting players internalize all of their negative feelings because that is clearly not effective for many players. However, screaming in frustration at yourself is very different from actually breaking something, i.e. a tennis racket. Racket abuse warnings should be issued every time a player smashes a racket… full stop!
|| Comments (2)
Comments
can i ask why you have a picture of a racket with the strings cut up for an article about broken rackets?
Posted by: J | August 29, 2008 07:08 PM
Serena said the following to the female lines person for her second code conduct violation "I swear to God I'm [expletive] going to take this [expletive] ball and shove it down your [expletive] throat, you hear that? I swear to God". She was losing 15-30 on her serve and was called CORRECTLY for a foot fault on the second serve which made it 15-40 for Kim. The code violation which was her second is a point penalty and hence the match. Serena has ZERO remorse and should be suspended from the tour for a year for her conduct.
Posted by: sue | September 13, 2009 04:30 AM