‘We Cannot Have Amateurs’ - Greece Slams Officials Following Fed Cup Defeat - UBITENNIS
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Fed Cup

‘We Cannot Have Amateurs’ – Greece Slams Officials Following Fed Cup Defeat

Officials working at the University of Bath have come under fire over their officiating during the Fed Cup clash between Great Britain and Greece.

Published

1 year ago

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The first Fed Cup competition to be held on British territory for 26 years has been marred by allegations of poor officiating during matches.

 

Two members of the Greek team have criticised the tournament shortly after their losses to Great Britain on Friday at the University of Bath. World No.38 Maria Sakkari voiced her frustration after losing 4-6, 6-2, 6-3, to Johanna Konta. Speaking to reporters after her match, Sakkari said that too many mistakes were made.

“This is unacceptable. They were making a lot of mistakes,” BBC Sport quoted Sakkari as saying. “We cannot have amateurs.”

Clearly bemused by the events, the 23-year-old continued by taking aim at the ‘terrible’ line judges. Throughout the match both her and Konta disputed a series of calls that was made against them. Unlike many events on the ATP and WTA Tour, there is no Hawk-Eye system in place for players to challenge the calls.

“Yeah they are terrible. Since the first round,” Sakkari commented about the line judges.
“They’re the worst I’ve ever seen in my life. This is unacceptable.”
“Because we have many players in the top 100, we are playing with poor balls, nine and 11 change, and with line umpires that have never worked in their life. That’s what I want to say.”

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Valentini Grammatikopoulou, who lost to Katie Boulter in three sets during the tie, was also critical. The world No.171 slammed the umpiring of her match by describing it as unfair. Grammatikopoulou lost her match 6-3, 4-6, 6-3.

“I’m really disappointed,” she said. “It’s really unfair to play like this. Three calls were in deuce. You can watch it actually and I will show her the balls were out.”
“She [Boulter] deserved to win but let’s play fair. That’s why we play tennis, you know? Not to judge the lines. It’s really tough. It’s not about how she played, it’s about fair play.
“If the ball was out, I accept. If the ball was in, I accept. But not if it’s really clearly out. It doesn’t matter anymore but if I want to lose, I want to lose nice.”

In the wake of the claims, British captain Anne Keothavong stated that those controversial calls had no impact on the outcome of the tie.

“The line-calling today didn’t affect the outcome of the matches. There were tight line calls. Some of the bad line calls went both ways, but that’s tennis.” Said Keothavong.
“There was a lot of tension out there. But my brother’s an official so I’m sympathetic to officials these days. It’s not easy out there for them too.”

Responding to the comments, the Lawn Tennis Association has defended the officials. Rebecca James, who is the LTA Tournament Director, have said that every lines-person and umpire working at the tournament in Bath has the correct qualification to do so.

“The officials selected for this event by the Association of British Tennis Officials (ABTO) have all worked at the highest levels of the game. The chair umpires are internationally certified and selected by the ITF. The lines people are all paid LTA licenced officials, who have all worked Wimbledon semi-finals and finals between them, including many on previous Davis Cup and Fed Cup matches.”

Great Britain is currently sitting in first place in Pool A of the tournament. They are yet to lose a match after securing 3-0 victories over Greece and Slovenia. They will play Hungary in their final group match on Friday.

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Fed Cup

Fed Cup Finals And Play-Offs Postponed Due to Coronavirus Concerns

The Fed Cup Finals and play-offs have been postponed due to fears over the Coronavirus.

Published

4 weeks ago

on

11/03/2020

By

(@WeAreTennis - Twitter)

April’s Fed Cup Finals and play-offs have been postponed due to current health concerns associated with the coronavirus. 

 

Today’s announcement comes hours after the Hungarian government announced a ban on any indoor events which has more than 1000 people in it.

The Fed Cup finals were due to take place between the 14th and 19th of April in Budapest but the increasing amount of cases around the world and 13 in Hungary left the ITF with no choice.

In addition, April’s play-offs have also been postponed and will be moved to a later date, with the ITF finding away to solve the problem around eligibility for the summer’s Olympic games.

Speaking on the announcement, ITF President David Haggerty expressed his disappointment but insisted health is more important, “We are extremely disappointed to have to make this decision, but we will not risk the safety and welfare of players, captains, event staff or spectators,” Haggerty said.

“This decision has not been made lightly; the threat posed by the COVID-19 is a serious one and calls for us to act responsibly as a federation and as human beings. This situation goes beyond sport.

“New dates for the Finals and for the Play-offs will be announced in due course and will primarily be guided by the length of time that tennis as a whole is affected by COVID-19. We will continue to collaborate with our colleagues across the sport to ensure that the impact on players, tournaments, rights holders and fans is as minimal as possible.”

The Fed Cup Finals and play-offs are the second tennis event to be postponed because of the coronavirus after the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells was cancelled a couple of days ago.

Currently the Miami Open is set to go ahead although there is a big chance that this tournament could also be cancelled.

The ATP and WTA tournament at the Hard Rock Stadium is set to start on Monday the 25th of March.

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Fed Cup

Fed Cup Finals Draw: Australia And Czech Republic Given Tricky Tests In Budapest

Australia and Czech Republic have been handed difficult draws for the Fed Cup Finals in Budapest in April.

Published

2 months ago

on

11/02/2020

By

(@FedCup - Twitter)

Australia and Czech Republic have been given tricky draws ahead of the inaugural Fed Cup Finals in Budapest. 

 

The event in Hungary takes place on the 14th-19th of April on clay to prepare players for the clay-court season that will approach.

In the inaugural event there are 12 nations competing for the Fed Cup title with the four group winners advancing to the semi-finals.

Ahead of April’s Fed Cup finale, the draw was announced today which has seen some mouth-watering matches set to take place.

Last year’s finalist’s Australia are in Group B and they have been given tricky tests against a strong Belarus team and Belgium.

Belarus have Aryna Sabalenka, Aliaksandra Sasnovich and Victoria Azarenka at their disposal while Belgium will be lead by Elise Mertens.

Meanwhile the other group in their half of the draw will see Czech Republic will face tough tests against Germany and a Switzerland team lead by Belinda Bencic.

On the other side of the draw, defending champions France will look to successfully defend their title when they face Russia and hosts Hungary.

Given the scenarios, this is a fairly good draw for France who would regard clay as their strongest surface and are favourites to make the last four.

In the last four, France could play USA who have been drawn with Spain and Slovakia who beat Great Britain in last weekend’s qualifiers.

Here is the full draw with the full round-robin schedule for April’s finals set to be released on Monday:

Group A

France

Russia

Hungary

Group B

Australia

Belarus

Belgium

Group C

USA

Spain

Slovakia

Group D

Czech Republic

Germany

Switzerland

Semi-Finals

Winner of Group A v Winner of Group C

Winner of Group B v Winner of Group D

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Fed Cup

Great Britain Handed Mexican Away Trip In Fed Cup Play-Off Draw

Great Britain face another away tie as they travel to Mexico in the Fed Cup Play-Offs.

Published

2 months ago

on

11/02/2020

By

Harriet Dart and Anne Keothavong (@the_LTA - Twitter)

Great Britain have been handed an away trip to Mexico in the Fed Cup Play-Off draw as they look to compete in next year’s qualifiers. 

 

The Brits, who were without Johanna Konta in their 3-1 defeat away to Slovakia, will now head to Mexico in April looking to avoid being relegated to Zone Group I.

Just like their tie in Bratislava, they are likely to be without Johanna Konta who has one eye on the Olympic Games and also like their tie this past weekend the tie will probably be on clay.

However this time the British team will be favourites to make next year’s Fed Cup qualifiers as the Mexican don’t have a single Women’s singles player in the top 200.

There will be eight Fed Cup play-offs which will be played on the 17th and 18th of April, with the eight winners joining eight teams from the Fed Cup finals.

14 of the 16 teams are confirmed with the Asia/Oceania Zone Group I still needed to be played in early March in Dubai after the Coronavirus epidemic meant that China couldn’t host the event in February.

Here is the full Fed Cup play-off draw:

(C) = Choice of Ground 

Brazil v Poland (C)

Great Britain v Mexico (C)

Canada v Serbia (C)

Latvia (C) v Asia/Oceania Nation TBC

Japan (C) v Ukraine

Romania (C) v Italy

Kazakhstan v Argentina (C)

Netherlands (C) v Asia/Oceania Nation TBC

 

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