Shuai Scandal Reminds Other Tennis Incidents

Last week, the tennis world was struck by a high-profile scandal that happened at a far from the most representative tournament in Budapest. Honored coach of Russia Vladimir Kamelzon told what to do in such cases, and “MK” remembered similar scandals of the past years.

What happened in Budapest

The main tennis news of recent days was the incident that occurred on July 18 in the first round match of the tournament in Budapest between Chinese Zhang Shuai and the hostess of the court Amarissa-Kiara Tot.

World No. 45, seeded No. 2 in Budapest, Shuai was the clear favorite against World No. 548 Toth. But in the second round, under the jubilation of the Hungarian public, it was not an Asian at all.

With the score 5:5, the linesman erroneously recorded an out after hitting a Chinese woman. The chief arbiter, after Shuai’s request, went down from the tower and confirmed the correctness of the linesman’s decision. On the video replay, it was clearly seen that the ball hit the line and the point should have been awarded to Zhang, which the Chinese woman tried to prove to the arbitrators, but did not succeed.

At the same time, Toth approached the place where the ball hit the court and deliberately rubbed it with her foot, destroying all evidence. This led to a new wave of disputes and protests from Shuai, who again failed to achieve justice. The Chinese woman lost the next rally of the ball, after which she called the doctors and, to the joyful roar of the Hungarian stands, refused to continue the match. The second racket of the tournament explained the refusal with a panic attack, which did not allow the athlete to leave the court in tears to breathe. A little later, Zhang thanked the fans who supported her in a difficult situation on social networks and lamented that all the efforts in training before the tournament were in vain due to one wrong referee’s decision.

Expert comment

“I didn’t see this episode myself. But by the way eyewitnesses describe him, I want to ask a question: why is the judge sitting on the tower? To make final decisions on all disputable situations that arise during the match. As he decides, so be it.

The Chinese woman took his decision too much to heart – she had a panic attack, in other words, a seizure. She withdrew from the tournament. She was credited with defeat. That’s all.

As for the actions of the Hungarian tennis player, she erased the trace after the referee announced the decision to give her a point. So there was no violation on her part. We discussed this episode with the Chief Referee of the Moscow Open Summer Tennis Cup, which is currently taking place in the capital. And what I said is, in fact, a statement of his position, ”said Vladimir Kamelzon, Honored Coach of Russia, in an interview with MK.

Scandals on the courts

What happened in Budapest is by no means unique in the world of tennis. And athletes often swear both with judges and among themselves.

The main bad boy of world tennis of all time – American John McEnroe – was distinguished by an extremely violent temper, which he did not try to hide. Wibledon 1981 was one of the most memorable tournaments for a tennis player, but the reason for this was not only his outstanding game. Already in the first round, Johnny, in a match against Tom Gallickson, broke two rackets in a fit of rage and was rude to the judge. It was in this meeting that McEnroe first uttered his famous phrase: “You can’t be serious,” which later became the title of his autobiography. For his antics, Mac was fined $1,500 and warned that each of his next violations would be punishable by a fine of $10,000.

As a result of the semi-finals with Rod Fraley, the American was fined $10,000 for insulting the judge on the line with the words: “You are a disgrace to the human race,” but McEnroe managed to convince the organizing committee during the appeal that he addressed this phrase not to the arbitrator, but to himself. In the final, John defeated the Swede Bjorn Borg, whom he lost the decisive match at the last Wimbledon tournament, winning the honorary trophy for the first time. McEnroe won that year at Wimbledon and in doubles together with Peter Fleming, but the outstanding results did not erase the resentment of the great tennis player against the organizers and judges. Johnny refused to take part in the traditional gala dinner in honor of the Wimbledon champions.

Ukrainian simulation

The 2018 US Open came out rich in scandals. At this tournament, the organizers forbade Serena Williams to play in medical overalls, which was supposed to ensure normal blood circulation in the athlete’s legs, after which the American entered the court in a dress, the bottom of which resembled a ballet tutu. The Frenchwoman Alize Cornet, who changed the top right on the court, was in the spotlight at the tournament, and the referee John Blom amused the audience by falling off the refereeing tower before the start of the match. The winner of the recently completed Wimbledon 2023, Marketa Vondrousova, also made some noise at that US Open.

The Czech tennis player, who was then only 19 years old, after losing in the fourth round to Ukrainian Lesya Tsurenko, accused her opponent of cheating. During the tense match, Tsurenko several times turned to the doctors for help, saying after the meeting that she could not breathe normally, something was wrong with her eyes, and the physiotherapist repeatedly suggested that she interrupt the match. Vondrousova did not believe the Ukrainian, saying after the match that she was just pretending, trying to slow down the pace in the game segments that were unsuccessfully developing for her. The arbitrators did not see any pretense in the actions of Tsurenko, and the accusations of the Czech remained empty words.