Players guilty of swearing will lose valuable ITF points

KUCHING: The use of abusive language by players against their opponents is not very common in International Tennis Federation (ITF) world junior tennis championships organised here but like any similar events elsewhere, it does happen.

Organising chairman of the 13th Sarawak Chief Minister’s Cup ITF World Junior Championship (Grade 1), Patrick Liew, said players guilty of such behaviour would be penalised by having their ranking points deducted.

Under ITF rules and regulations, players using abusive language against their opponents or officials is a code violation.

“If any player swears at his or her opponent during the match and the umpire hears it and the opponent complains to the umpire, the umpire will give three warnings before he imposes penalty points,” he said.

Liew, also Sarawak Lawn Tennis Association (SLTA) president, said the code violation would be reported to the ITF headquarters and action would be taken against the offending player by deducting points from his or her world ranking and suspending them from other tournaments.

“That’s why before any tournament we organise here, we always request for a list of suspended players from ITF,” he said.

He admitted that it was always very hard to determine whether players used abusive language on court as they were from different foreign countries and spoke in different languages.

Liew said players were not allowed to point fingers or throw their rackets at the match umpire or their opponents as this was considered a provocation and code violation.

“That’s why the umpire or referee has to know all the rules and regulations and also be experienced in umpiring matches.”

He said there was always room for improvement among the on-court officials like the umpires, linesmen and ball boys and SLTA did receive comments from ITF that the umpire was not firm enough in making decisions or did not know the rules well enough or the linesmen’s eyes were not sharp enough.

“To me, it’s a matter of your decision or mine. I see it ‘in’ but you see it ‘out’. The umpire’s decision has always been challenged and that’s why the Wimbledon Open and Australian Open have brought in the (electronic replay) Hawkeye to contest final line-call decisions,” he said.