Questions are being asked once again if tennis authorities should tighten their rules regarding players’ behaviour during matches following two separate incidents that occurred at the Miami Open on Thursday.
Both of the incidents were in the men’s draw with America’s Jenson Brooksby and Australia’s Jordan Thompson losing their cool. The most discussed incident involved rising star Brooksby who is currently at a ranking high of 39th in the world. He was visibly frustrated throughout his second round clash with Argentina’s Federico Coria, which he eventually won 3-6, 6-2, 6-3.
The American was leading 4-1 in the final set when he threw his racket onto the ground which bounced in the direction of the ball person and they had to duck out of the way to avoid getting hit. As a consequence, Brooksby was handed a code violation and point penalty but Coria argued with the umpire that the penalty should have been harsher.
After the match, the 21-year-old apologized to the ball person for his behaviour and posted a photo of them both on his Instagram account with a brief statement.
“I am truly sorry for my actions out there today. I will learn from this and continue to grow on and off the court,” he wrote.
Former world No.1 Caroline Wozniacki, who is working for the Tennis Channel during the Miami Open, says there should have been a disqualification. A view which is backed by coach Craig O’Shannessy who branded it as ‘absolutely a default.’
Not long after the Brooksby meltdown, there was more controversy on another court involving Thompson. During his clash with Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, the Australian blasted the ball out of the stands out of anger which promoted a ball girl to duck. Thompson received a code violation but he wasn’t defaulted. He went on to beat the Frenchman 6-7(1), 6-4, 6-4.
In recent weeks there has been criticism towards the ATP over how they managed the conduct of players. At the Mexican Open, Alexander Zverev was disqualified after repeatedly swearing and hitting the chair of the match umpire. He managed to escape further suspension from the Tour after the ATP slammed him with a year-old suspended ban.
“Seriously what is it going to take…drawing blood…to properly punish a tennis player. This is absolutely absurd,” former Davis Cup captain Patrick McEnroe wrote on Twitter.
In recent years the most notable match disqualification to happen occurred at the 2020 US Open where Novak Djokovic was kicked out of his fourth round match after striking a ball that inadvertently hit a linesperson in the throat.
