Fair Play: An inconsequential rule
SHOULD tennis scrap the rule on foot faults?
The Serena Williams vs. Kim Clijsters semifinal match in the US Open seems to be a compelling argument for it, as it robbed us of a great ending to one great match between two former No. 1s.
Trailing 6-5, 30-15, and serving to stay in the match, the line judge called a foot fault on Serena, making it 40-15. That pivotal foul—which I think shouldn’t have been
called in the first place—earned a string of rebukes from Serena.
That tirade, now one of the hits in Youtube, also earned Williams a penalty.
Game. Set. Match.
And she didn’t even get to whack her 191 KPH serves.
So should foot faults be removed?
I think not. But they should be treated like the “throw in violations” in football, or if you want something familiar, like the rule on selling liquor to minors or selling near schools.
They are but “suggestions,” not rules.
A football game goes 90 minutes without a single call on throw in violations. It’s not that the pros do it correctly, each time. It’s because, as one commentator said, “nobody really calls it.”
I catch a lot of football games on TV everyday. Though I don’t watch the whole 90 minutes, I catch a few portions of each game. And all these times, I haven’t seen a throw in violation called.
Heck the last time I saw one, I think, was last year, back when watching a 90-minute match on TV wasn’t a luxury. Which is why I remember what that commentator said.
The line judge could also take a page from basketball refs. I remember that one NBA star once said that during crucial end-game situations, inconsequential fouls—or the sport’s version of foot faults—are ignored. Why? Officials shouldn’t influence a game’s outcome. Let the team win it, or lose it.
Michael Jordan’s push on Byron Russel in his final shot in the 1998 finals—the shot that earned Chicago’s sixth NBA title—comes to mind.
Of course, it’s a whole different argument if somebody got whacked in the final shot, or Serena served a whole foot inside the service line.
JUAN JOINS THE GROUP. A day after Roger Federer beat Novak Djokovic in straight sets in the semifinals, I thought the Swiss No. 1 would brush off Juan Martin del Potro in the finals and claim Grand Slam No. 16.
But del Potro had other things in mind.
Del Potro, who turns 21 today, joins Rafael Nadal—the guy the Argentine beat in the semis—as the only two who have defeated Federer in a Grand Slam finals.
He also joins my “villain list” along with Nadal—the guys Federer must beat in a Grand Slam final to even things around.
At 28, I think Federer still has a good three or even four years in him. He hasn’t struggled with injuries like Pete Sampras, who at 28 had a herniated disc, so Slam No. 19 is still much in the picture.
Last year, despite achieving more than say, 98 percent of the field, quite a lot of people were saying how Federer was slowing down, or have lost a step.
This year, he’s reminding everybody who he is.
Four major finals, a career grand slam, and he’s back where he belongs—the No. 1 in the world.
The losses against Del Potro and Nadal, in the US Open and the Australian Open, respectively, are just the tennis gods’ ways of keeping things interesting.
RP TENNIS. Things are also looking good for RP tennis. The Philippines returned to the Asia/Oceana Zone Group 1 with a 4-1 win in the Group 2 finals against New Zealand, 4-1, just recently.
The finals was supposed to be held in Cebu but since the city hasn’t solved its perennial problem of a local venue for world class event, the Cebuanos lost the chance to host it.
The Serena Williams vs. Kim Clijsters semifinal match in the US Open seems to be a compelling argument for it, as it robbed us of a great ending to one great match between two former No. 1s.
Trailing 6-5, 30-15, and serving to stay in the match, the line judge called a foot fault on Serena, making it 40-15. That pivotal foul—which I think shouldn’t have been
called in the first place—earned a string of rebukes from Serena.
That tirade, now one of the hits in Youtube, also earned Williams a penalty.
Game. Set. Match.
And she didn’t even get to whack her 191 KPH serves.
So should foot faults be removed?
I think not. But they should be treated like the “throw in violations” in football, or if you want something familiar, like the rule on selling liquor to minors or selling near schools.
They are but “suggestions,” not rules.
A football game goes 90 minutes without a single call on throw in violations. It’s not that the pros do it correctly, each time. It’s because, as one commentator said, “nobody really calls it.”
I catch a lot of football games on TV everyday. Though I don’t watch the whole 90 minutes, I catch a few portions of each game. And all these times, I haven’t seen a throw in violation called.
Heck the last time I saw one, I think, was last year, back when watching a 90-minute match on TV wasn’t a luxury. Which is why I remember what that commentator said.
The line judge could also take a page from basketball refs. I remember that one NBA star once said that during crucial end-game situations, inconsequential fouls—or the sport’s version of foot faults—are ignored. Why? Officials shouldn’t influence a game’s outcome. Let the team win it, or lose it.
Michael Jordan’s push on Byron Russel in his final shot in the 1998 finals—the shot that earned Chicago’s sixth NBA title—comes to mind.
Of course, it’s a whole different argument if somebody got whacked in the final shot, or Serena served a whole foot inside the service line.
JUAN JOINS THE GROUP. A day after Roger Federer beat Novak Djokovic in straight sets in the semifinals, I thought the Swiss No. 1 would brush off Juan Martin del Potro in the finals and claim Grand Slam No. 16.
But del Potro had other things in mind.
Del Potro, who turns 21 today, joins Rafael Nadal—the guy the Argentine beat in the semis—as the only two who have defeated Federer in a Grand Slam finals.
He also joins my “villain list” along with Nadal—the guys Federer must beat in a Grand Slam final to even things around.
At 28, I think Federer still has a good three or even four years in him. He hasn’t struggled with injuries like Pete Sampras, who at 28 had a herniated disc, so Slam No. 19 is still much in the picture.
Last year, despite achieving more than say, 98 percent of the field, quite a lot of people were saying how Federer was slowing down, or have lost a step.
This year, he’s reminding everybody who he is.
Four major finals, a career grand slam, and he’s back where he belongs—the No. 1 in the world.
The losses against Del Potro and Nadal, in the US Open and the Australian Open, respectively, are just the tennis gods’ ways of keeping things interesting.
RP TENNIS. Things are also looking good for RP tennis. The Philippines returned to the Asia/Oceana Zone Group 1 with a 4-1 win in the Group 2 finals against New Zealand, 4-1, just recently.
The finals was supposed to be held in Cebu but since the city hasn’t solved its perennial problem of a local venue for world class event, the Cebuanos lost the chance to host it.
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