The first week of Wimbledon delivered yet another example of a professional tennis player that is a little fuzzy on the finer points of the rules. In the tiebreaker of the deciding fifth set against Jiri Vesely, Alejandro Davidovich Fokina received his second code violation in the match for launching a ball out of the stadium. Since he was down 7-9 in the tiebreaker, the point penalty for the second infraction effectively ended the match.
Davidovich Fokina apparently was not aware that the point penalty schedule escalates with each infraction, regardless of the type. His first code violation was for an audible obscenity. By his understanding, he expected a warning for the ball abuse as a first rather than second offense. That is simply not how it works.
The Grand Slam tournaments operate under the “Grand Slam Rule Book” which is published by the ITF. The schedule of point penalties for code violations is short and clear.
The Point Penalty Schedule to be used for violations set forth above is as follows:
Article III, Section S, Point Penalty Schedule from the Grand Slam Rulebook
– FIRST offence WARNING
– SECOND offence POINT PENALTY
– THIRD AND EACH SUBSEQUENT offence GAME PENALTY
The umpire in the chair for this match was Carlos Ramos, who is known as a stickler for the rules. Ramos was famously also the chair umpire when Serena Williams had her US Open Finals meltdown against Naomi Osaka in 2018.
Some tennis fans have been critical of the code violation in this particular situation since it was match point. John McEnroe also chipped in by stating “I don’t agree with it. That’s crazy… what a lousy way to end it,” during the broadcast on ESPN.
It is a terrible way for a match to end, but the stupidity started with the code violation in the first place. Davidovich Fokina never should have placed himself in the situation where the code violation could be issued. The fact that he didn’t understand the rules well enough to foresee the ramifications, somehow makes it worse.
- Official Grand Slam Rule Book, International Tennis Federation, 2022.
