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Posts Tagged ‘judge’

Filed under: U.S. Open

This is when a suspension is not a suspension, a major fine is not a major fine.

It took months to figure this out, how to word it perfectly, but on Monday, the International Tennis Federation did it.

It gave Serena Williams a punishment that wasn't a punishment.

The $175,000 fine and three-year suspended ban from the U.S. Open and probationary period for her f-bomb laced, threatening tirade at a tiny U.S. Open line judge do sound like big words, don't they?

They aren't. Break it down, and Williams will end up paying just $82,500. She recently referred to $50,000 as the furniture budget in her home remodeling.

If she doesn't have another major outburst, the fine is cut to that number, and the suspension thrown out. She will not miss a tournament. Her debt will be paid.

Look, the fine means nothing to Williams. She won't feel it. But the ITF can say that it's a record size.

OK, Serena? Is this OK with you?

I can only imagine ITF officials pleading with her to please, please let them appear to be an actual governing body.

You remember what happened. The line judge called footfault on Williams, who then waved her racquet in the judge's face and threatened to take the ``(f-ing) ball'' and shove it down her "(f-ing) throat.''

That led to a point penalty on match point. So the match was over.

Let's be honest: Race is an issue. It always is with tennis and the Williams sisters. Some people will think Williams was given a record fine because she's black. Others will think she was given a pass because she's black.

Some people think she was the bully, some think she was victim of a bad call.

The ITF doesn't really care what's right. That was never an issue. The only issue was this: How do you give a penalty that looks big but isn't?

The point isn't that she was punished too much or too little, but rather that it was a non-justice based on non-truths, when true leadership was crying out because people's real feelings were involved about the game, Williams, race, and sportsmanship.

The feelings are so real that some people insist the video evidence proves she never footfaulted. Others demand the video evidence proved she did.

Here's the truth: There is no camera shot, video or still, that can determine anything.

There are lots of truths missing here, a mess that has made tennis look uglier than ever. Williams' smokescreen reasons for her tantrum, her ``punishment,'' the ITF's naked self-interest, John McEnroe's irresponsibility.

The ITF let this thing drag on so long that hard feelings only grew. It became a social debate lining up mostly along racial lines.

So the ITF points out that this is the biggest fine ever at a major. Jeff Tarango got about half as much for storming off at Wimbledon and calling a chair ump corrupt. His wife later slapped the judge, too.

Of course, the ITF doesn't mention that Tarango was also banned from two majors. McEnroe was once suspended for two months.

But McEnroe had been a brat for years, and that could have been a career-achievement punishment. Serena has not behaved bad nearly as often, though she did threaten a player who cheated her at this year's French Open. In fact, one tennis official told the New York Times, "We're not talking about a John McEnroe type character here."

Here was the telling quote, a bit of truth, from ITF president Francesco Ricci Bitti a few weeks ago:

"I don't think (an Australian Open ban) would make much sense, because it would penalize the people handing out the punishment. For the grand slam committee to exclude her from a grand slam doesn't seem likely.

"A significant financial penalty makes more sense. But it has to be significant enough for the fans.''

They didn't want to kick her out of a major tournament because that would hurt the tournament. How is that's a concern to a governing body?

And they wanted a fine big enough to look like justice, not to serve it.

Let's go back over what really happened, over the truth.

Williams was in the semifinals of the U.S. Open playing Kim Clijsters in a tight match. Williams had been spouting off all year about how she was the real No. 1, not No. 1 ranked Dinara Safina. That had racial overtones. So did the sudden popularity of teenager Melanie Oudin, a white girl from the South, at the Open. How much of her appeal was that she was the great white hope?

So that was the setting. And Clijsters, just back from a 2 1/2-year break, was beating Williams. Williams was two points from losing when she was called for footfault on her second serve.

Did she footfault? Yes. Absolutely.

I was sitting just behind the line judge, several rows back. Other media members were sitting there too. She clearly stepped way out onto the thick baseline.

But that's not really the point. With several chances, Williams could not bring herself to play the final point. Why?

Because to her, that was less embarrassing than losing to a woman just back from maternity leave.
Williams quit this match, not planning to get thrown out, but knowing at some level that she would.

Meanwhile, McEnroe, still the face of the game in many ways, was on TV ripping the line judge, saying he didn't see a footfault and that a judge doesn't make calls like that such in a crucial situation. Juan Martin del Potro, by the way, was called for a footfault in a crucial third-set tiebreaker last week during the ATP Finals.

But whatever, McEnroe, famous for being a jerk to officials, was irresponsibly and unwittingly fueling a racial debate even though there was this truth:

From where he was sitting, he could not have seen whether Williams had actually foot-faulted.

The next day, Williams issued a statement calling it an "unfair line call.'' The day after that, with endorsers presumably upset, she issued a real apology.

She went on to win the tour championship, reclaim the No. 1 ranking, appear nude on the cover of ESPN the Magazine, pitch her new book, appear on Leno and every other show.

Did she get away with this? Obviously.

But was justice served? Well, that was never a consideration.

Email me at gregcouch09@aol.com

Tennis Deserves Fault for Serena's Flawed Justice originally appeared on Tennis FanHouse on Mon, 30 Nov 2009 14:00:00 EST . Please see our terms for use of feeds.

 

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Filed under: U.S. Open, WTA

It's amazing how much "no comment" can say. I've made a pet project of the curious case of Yanina Wickmayer, the young tennis player banned for a year from the tour for a doping offense even though she never missed a doping test and never failed one.

Wickmayer is being punished for Andre Agassi's sins. That's how tennis is trying to save face, by crushing a 20-year old budding star who seems to have committed, at worst, a tiny infraction.

I've spent the past few weeks calling and emailing the doping agencies and governing bodies involved. You name the initials, VDT, WADA, WTA, ITF.

Most of them are B.S. In the end, this isn't even about Wickmayer anymore. It's about doping tests and steroids in sports in general. We need watchers to keep an eye on the cheating athletes.

But who is watching the watchers?

Here's what Koen Umans, spokesman for the Flemish anti-doping council (VDT) in Belgium that banned Wickmayer, wrote in an email response to a request for details of her case and a copy of the 20-page report on it:

"As for reason the procedure is not yet finalized at all (appeals are introduced at different levels), it shouldn't be correct to comment on the factuals as a spokesman of the court involved."

A spokesperson for the World Anti-Doping Agency said, "WADA must refrain from commenting on pending cases in order to protect the integrity of this review."

Integrity. Interesting. The thing is, agencies have already commented. VDT banned Wickmayer and said the punishment was just. Those are such strong comments that a young woman who just had her breakthrough, reaching the U.S. Open semis, had to pack up and leave a tournament. Imagine the humiliation.

Her agents had been close to lining up endorsements, too.

Those talks are on hold now.

Why didn't she inform the doping-testers where she would be, as rules require? That sounds bad.

She has an answer. She blames the Flemish anti-doping agency, and now, no comment from the agency.

We've heard so many ridiculous excuses for failed tests that no one believes athletes anymore. At the Turin Olympics, members of the Austrian ski team fled the country in fear of WADA testers and the law.

One official was thrown into an insane asylum. How great watching cheats running.

Wickmayer's name was smeared, her career seriously damaged and her reputation assaulted. And now the agencies won't explain? I've always been a fan of WADA. But Wickmayer's story passes the smell test. And WADA's and Flemish agency's silence casts the suspicion on them.

I'm starting to feel bad for the guy in the insane asylum.

Wickmayer's name was smeared, her career seriously damaged and her reputation assaulted. And now the agencies won't explain?

Look, if an agency is going to serve as judge and jury, then it has to be accountable for its paper trail. Open. Transparent.

"All the letters that I had to sign for upon receipt," Wickmayer said, "were sent back to the Flemish Anti-Doping Agency, meaning that they did know that I had never received them."

This is Wickmayer's case. She didn't report her whereabouts three times in 18 months.

Under WADA rules, the top 50 players have to tell testers where they'll be for an hour each day. Wickmayer wasn't in the top 50 yet, but countries can toughen-up those standards. The Flemish agency decided the top 50 wasn't enough.

So Wickmayer, from Belgium, had to account for her whereabouts. But someone needed to tell Wickmayer.

Here's her claim: She never reported her whereabouts because she didn't know she was supposed to. The Flemish agency sent her a letter in November or December of 2008 to inform her of her requirements, but she was training in Switzerland. The letter was sent via certified mail, meaning it wasn't delivered because no one was there to sign for it.

So it went back to VDT.

In February of 2009, she said, other players mentioned the whereabouts rule to her, so she wrote to the VDT to ask about it.

"I received an email back, which included a login and did not include any information about the one failed update I had already missed, without knowing that this system even exists ..." she said.

Strike one.

The password the agency gave her never worked, she said. And after coming back from the U.S. seven weeks later, she called officials, who said they had to reset her password. What they didn't tell her: strike two.

For strike three, she misunderstood the form online and filled it in wrong.

So she has some blame here. For one, why did she wait seven weeks to mention that her password wasn't working?

One official said that when an athlete gives an address to a sports federation, that athlete is responsible for finding a way to receive mail sent to that address.

But when the agency got the letter back, couldn't it have called Wickmayer? Sent an email? Called an agent?

Umans said there would be a press conference in Brussels this week, and I asked if it would include details on how Wickmayer was informed.

Also, where can I get the 20-page report?

"We won't comment on particular cases," Umans wrote back. And, "We are not allowed and will not publish the verdict. I repeat it has been handed only to the parties involved."

Here's a timeline: A prosecutor in the case suggested that Wickmayer get a stern warning. Then Agassi humiliated tennis by admitting he lied his way out of a failed crystal meth test. Then Wickmayer was banned for a year.

Everything she says would be so easy to check. The Flemish agency must know whether its letters were signed for. Records could show whether officials called Wickmayer or sent emails.

One of Wickmayer's people told me the report says she's not suspected of doping or hiding from tests, but instead of technical errors.

Usually, it's the people with something to hide who say "No comment."

Email me at gregcouch09@aol.com

Wickmayer Suspended for Agassi's Sins originally appeared on Tennis FanHouse on Wed, 25 Nov 2009 00:00:00 EST . Please see our terms for use of feeds.

 

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Filed under: U.S. Open, ATP

The head of the World Anti-Doping Agency acknowledged that it's too late to punish Andre Agassi for his failed drug test from 1997, darned statute of limitations. But WADA said it still wants some punishment, anyway. Maybe for Agassi's lies to doping officials, which he admits in his book? Maybe for perjury?

Doubtful. But I knew tennis would get its pound of flesh, anyway, as Agassi has embarrassed the sport's governing bodies. What I didn't know was how fast they would get that flesh.

Or that they would take it from Yanina Wickmayer.

She was banned Thursday for a year for a doping offense. It wasn't for failing a test, or apparently even for missing one, though details still aren't out. It was because she failed to report three times to doping officials over the past 18 months where she would be.

So Agassi did crystal meth. Tennis swept it under the rug.

And Yanina Wickmayer took the fall.

How cold.

Players have to tell officials months in advance about their whereabouts for an hour each day, though they can adjust if their schedules change. Rafael Nadal calls it harassment. Serena Williams and others have complained.

Wickmayer has her excuses, but she blew it and she needed to be punished. How about a two-week suspension, a fine and a probationary period where she's tested twice a week?

A one-year ban? That's massive overkill.

Worse, it's pathetic and transparent.

Tennis is trying to send a message: See world? We are tough on drugs, no matter what Agassi says.

Look, if it's a PR campaign the sport wants, then it just happened to pick the wrong person to beat up, though the handiest, because her file was on the desk.

Wickmayer is the 20-year old Belgian who emerged at the U.S. Open in September, reaching the semifinals. Her mother died when Yanina was 9. Days later, Yanina told her father she wanted to move to the U.S. So he dropped everything -- house, business, cars and friends -- in his toughest grief and left within a week for his daughter's happiness. She had just taken up tennis to get away from the pain.

At the Open this year, I asked her about it, and she sat in front of her father and said this: "He listened to a girl that was 9 years old, and left his life, left his dreams. . .I have no words for what he's done. There is no way of thanking him in any way for what he did.

"But I hope with my semis here this week, I can show him that I really thank him for everything he's done. It's been great spending my whole life with him.''

Imagine hearing that from your teenage daughter.

On Thursday, Wickmayer withdrew mid-tournament from an event in Bali and left the country, as her suspension started immediately.

She denied wrongdoing and said she'll appeal.

Why do I think this is a stunt? Take a look at the calendar. She said a month ago, when her problems first came up, that she had had trouble with her password getting onto the WADA website to update her whereabouts.

On Oct. 22, a prosecutor at the Belgian anti-doping tribunal suggested she get a stern warning. That's where this was headed. And it's quite a difference from the one-year suspension from the tour that she got.

So what happened in those 14 days between warning and banning?

In his autobiography, Agassi admitted he had used crystal meth as a player in 1997, and had failed a test for it. He wrote that he talked his way out of trouble by saying he had mistakenly taken a sip of a friend's spiked drink.

So the ATP either stupidly bought it or swept the failed test under the rug because Agassi was a big name. I'll go with the second one. And suddenly the anti-doping people have fangs for Wickmayer.

To clarify, in 1997, the ATP ran its own drug-testing program. Now, tennis drug-testing has been handed over to WADA, known for its toughness. But earlier this year, player Richard Gasquet won an appeal over his suspension for failing a cocaine test. How? He said he had gotten the drug in his system by kissing a woman in a bar.

It's true we're talking about different organizations here. Wickmayer, along with fellow Belgian player Xavier Malisse, was suspended by a Belgian anti-doping tribunal. Wickmayer, ranked No. 18, is the fall person because tennis needed a top player for the hit. Malisse is barely in the top 100.

But tennis is an incestuous operation and all these different governing bodies can oddly work as one sometimes.

Things seem to be out of control in tennis. The ITF, all this time later, is still investigating Williams for her U.S. Open tirade, and theoretically will punish her within the next two weeks. Let's see how her punishment for threatening a line judge stacks up to Wickmayer's.

WADA has told the ATP to investigate Agassi's claims, which is like asking a fox to investigate the sudden disappearances in the chicken coop.

Meanwhile, CBS has released clips of Agassi's appearance on "60 Minutes" this Sunday, and he talks about the players former and current, particularly Martina Navratilova, who have been ripping him.

"I had a problem, and there might be many other athletes out there that test positive for recreational drugs that have a problem,'' Agassi said. ``So I would ask for some compassion ...

"I had way more to lose by telling this story in its full transparency than I had to gain. The part that I worry and think more about is who this may help.''

He risked reputation, but was paid $5 million for the book, for that risk. That was his price for supposed honesty. As for worrying about helping others with his message, well Andre, I'm sure that will make Wickmayer feel much better.

Email me at gregcouch09@aol.com

WADA Crock: Making Wickmayer Pay for Agassi's Sin originally appeared on Tennis FanHouse on Fri, 06 Nov 2009 11:30:00 EST . Please see our terms for use of feeds.

 

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