After the 2024 French Open wildcards were announced, the French Tennis Federation was sharply criticized by the media for awarding most of the slots to obscure French players. Among those who benefitted from that selection was Terence Atmane, who had an ATP ranking of 137 when the wildcards were awarded.
On day one of the tournament, Atmane slammed a ball into the seats that hit a spectator. It occurred immediately after he lost a point in the fourth set against Sebastian Ofner of Austria. There was an extensive delay as the chair umpire and other officials tried to decide what action to take against Atmane. The decision during the match was to issue a warning for unsportsmanlike conduct, which is a slap on the wrist. However, Atmane was later fined $25,000, which is nearly a third of the prize money “earned” by losing that first-round match.
Just last year at the French Open, Japanese player Miyu Kato was disqualified for hitting a ball while it was out of play that struck a ball girl. In that case, it was determined that Kato would forfeit all the prize money she had earned in the draw up to that point. The appeal of the decision was denied, which is tantamount to the Grand Slam Board affirming the disqualification and associated financial penalties as justified. It was a pretty stiff penalty for a ball that was hit firmly but arguably not in anger.
These and other recent incidents reveal tremendous inconsistency in how players are penalized for reckless behavior that threatens the safety of court officials and spectators. Some of the variations can be chalked up to the disposition of the chair umpire presiding over each match. However, Remy Azemar was the referee in both cases. Based on the hard-line stance taken in the Kato instance, it is unconscionable that the same penalty was not issued to Atmane for his egregious actions. At the French Open, who commits violations is apparently much more important than what occurred.
This episode allows us to peek into what the Grand Slam Rulebook says about abuse of balls. The only update for 2024 was raising the maximum fine to $50,000 up from $20,000 last year.
ABUSE OF BALLS
Players shall not violently, dangerously or with anger hit, kick or throw a tennis ball
within the precincts of the tournament site except in the reasonable pursuit of a point
during a match (including warm-up).Violation of this Section shall subject a player to fine up to $50,000 for each violation.
2024 Grand Slam Rulebook, ARTICLE III: PLAYER ON-SITE OFFENCES, Section N
In addition, if such violation occurs during a match (including the warm-up) the player
shall be penalised in accordance with the Point Penalty Schedule hereinafter set forth.
For the purposes of this Rule, abuse of balls is defined as intentionally hitting a ball
out of the enclosure of the court, hitting a ball dangerously or recklessly within the
court or hitting a ball with negligent disregard of the consequences.
While the $25,000 fine issued to Atame is certainly a lot of money, it is half the maximum penalty that could — and arguably should — have been levied in this instance. The match continued with Ofner prevailing 3-6, 4-6, 7-6 (2), 6-2, 7-5. Had Atame won, I seriously doubt this tournament administration would have considered disqualification after a win.
Slamming a tennis ball in anger is the height of stupidity. A player who takes that action is undoubtedly frustrated at their play, which likely means they aren’t exactly putting every ball where they want it. While Atame’s ball was clearly an “accident,” it was still reckless and irresponsible.
It is even less excusable for officials who are not in the throes of the emotions of a match to perpetuate a culture where ball slamming is tolerated at all. The best way to stop this behavior is to eliminate selective enforcement that only occurs when a ball happens to connect with a bystander and still discount it as an “accident.”
Until that occurs, tennis players have no incentive to stop doing that stupid thing.
- 2024 Official Grand Slam Rulebook, International Tennis Federation, 2024.
It would be nice to have some consistency, but each incident is different and separate, so a bit hard sometimes. I don’t like how the tournament referee is involved in these incidences. It’s a judgment call for the chair umpire, not a rules debate.
The Kato ruling seems a bit bizarre. I wonder if the chair umpire actually saw it happen correctly. She probably should’ve gotten a warning and a fine, but not a DQ. She didn’t hit the ball that hard and was just a little overaggressive hitting the ball to the ball girl. But this begs the question: should pace of the ball matter? But, she seems to just be hitting a ball after a point imitating a shot she wants to hit during a point that we see so many players do during matches. The ball just happened to hit a ball girl when she was looking. If she was looking, she’d probably catch it with little trouble. This seems much different than Atmane or when Djoker hit the lineswoman at the USO. Both of them were clearly hitting the ball out of anger with no regard to where it might land or who it might hit.
Atmane should’ve been DQ’ed obviously. I doubt he was trying to hit that particular spectator, but I don’t think it’s accurate to call that an accident. It’s reckless behavior. He knows he’s smashing the ball somewhere without caring where it will go. If someone smashes a ball out of anger and it doesn’t hit anyone, well, they got a little lucky probably. Players who do this are taking the risk of this type of behavior. It’s all too easy in tennis to throw a racquet and/or smash a ball somewhere, but hopefully this stuff stops happening so often.
Would it behoove the USTA to add the phrase “hitting a ball dangerously or recklessly” to the Standards of Conduct section of the FAC for clarity? Hitting “recklessly” is somewhat common after a lost point. Instances of ball abuse tend to be varyingly officiated. The first paragraph of the grand slam rulebook is all-encompassing. Slam a ball into the back net from a few feet away from it, it’s a code. Slam a ball in the ground and it goes 30 feet in the air, it’s a code. Slam a ball “recklessly” and no matter where it lands…etc.