Zevrev, World’s No.3 kicked out in Mexico

Expecting a tennis event without disturbing incidents is not a practical mindset for organisers. In the early days of tennis, violations in events did reach unpleasant and uncontrollable levels. These forced an 'official' system to evolve with education, training and certification for officiating events. Today, their services are a prerequisite to conduct a tennis event approved by ITF, ATP and WTA.

The word 'official' means, there is a written code of conduct and requirement for events. Those operating are certified to do so. The purpose being to maintain internationally approved uniform system and fair play.

In the history of the game, fair play did deteriorate to unacceptable levels and did suffer. Some players attracted spectator with unacceptable court antics. There were many, two of such vibrant, innovative and successful players of the 1960s and 1970s were Nastase and McEnroe.

Davis Cup - Krishnan vs Koch in 1966

This is my early recollection of 'unfair play', turned out to be in the important Davis Cup tie between India and Brazil in Calcutta South Club grass courts.

With scores standing at 2-all, the deciding match was between Ramanathan Krishnan, the only Indian Wimbledon semi-finalist and Brazil's Thomas Koch, winner of reputed World Junior Championships in Florida. At that time, Davis Cup holders did not participate in the elimination rounds. The elimination rounds found a challenger to the Davis Cup holders of the previous year for the cup.

In Calcutta, with scores standing at two matches each, the final match was the reverse singles. Here, Brazilian Thomas Koch took a very comfortable lead by winning the first two sets. It was good as gone match for India.

In the third set, Krishnan did a base liner decided to come to net at 5-2 and 30/15 in Brazil’s favour. Koch, a lefty had no issues passing Krishnan down the line. The ball landed inside the court, two metres inside the base line and good six inches from side line of the court. The linesman did not call. The linesman need not make a call if the ball is inside the court.

The Indian captain challenged the call. Grass courts leave no ball marks. The match came to a halt and 20,000 Indian spectators said it was out and did not allow the match to proceed. The point went to India.

Koch, then just 17-years-old, could not take the shock and never won another game and Krishnan won the match for India. The Indian team won the tie. Three Ceylonese juniors playing the Indian tennis circuit eye witnessed to this event. One of them was I. India played Australia in the final and lost 4-1.

Such a thing cannot happen at present, officiating is very strong and defined. Fair play is not a request any more but is the rule. Two years ago, Serena Williams lost the US Open title match to Naomi Osaka. In this match, Williams' penalties were for multiple time violation and a full game for verbal abuse of the chair umpire. Officiating repeatedly punishes violations regardless whoever they are. Zevrev's unwarranted act

Today there is zero tolerance towards players' tantrums. Officiating works with strict guidelines. World's No.3 Zevrev, a German with Russian origin, has a history of being violent. Instead of shaking umpire's hand after the doubles they lost, Zevrev smashed the racquet on the umpires stand and shot or two touched umpire's foot. Zevrev's fate decided as far as Mexico Open 2022 event in Acapulco. He could face a tour ban for life and maximum penalties from ATP.

What Zevrev did was deliberate and inexcusable. Many will remember Djokovic accidentally hit a line person in US Open and was eliminated from the event. It could have been his 21 grand slam title. Tennis originated as a gentle game, officiating is trying to maintain this image and are having a hard time.

Zevrev is a known Singles player and not for Doubles. He could have let it pass. After all events come week after week. Whatever happened was unpleasant. If he was unhappy with the umpire, then appeal to the tournament committee, that is the right road for him in Mexico. He chose otherwise.

Nadal wins Mexico

Tennis has found a way out of the virus situation. With vaccine and bubble idea, competitions are staged worldwide. Airline precautions and host country requirements are stringent. Many players are grounded due to this.

All signs indicate maestro Rafael Nadal is back. He beat Britain's Norrie in a thriller in Mexico. In the previous round, Norrie beat Tsitsipas. Nadal, on his way to the final, beat Medvedev in straight sets. The next in the tour calendar are the European Sand Court Tennis events. Here we have war and the coronavirus precautions. Both together will have a telling effect on all the sporting events.

High performance development

What it implies is creating national level players who will succeed in international events. Target is for players to enter top 250 of ATP, WTA and ITF at the 'right age'. All our pursuits in recent time shows players reach maturity too late.

Tennis being an individual sport, their effort and pursuit decides the career path. Players coming from families with sporting background have an advantage. This does not mean they can work less. A junior player's early local success is no exemption from the workload and progress requirement for international success. The question we face now is, will tennis player development survive in the island?

--George Paldano, European and Asian competition player; Coach for German Tennis Federation; National coach Brunei and Sri Lanka; Davis Cup, Federation Cup; coached top 200 ATP, WTA and ITF Top 50 --- WhatsApp 0775448880-