OK, that wasn’t anything close to Nalbandian incident (remember in last year’s Queens?), but it wasn’t nice as well.
The Russian Beauty Olga Puchova was defaulted when she was trailing 3-6, 6-3, 4-1 in the second round of the City Open against Paula Ormaechea of Argentina. After losing a point Olga nervously hit a line judge in the knee… a big shot!
The Russian didn’t do that on purpose, but the rules are pretty clear… she had to be disqualified from the tournament.
WTA supervisor Melanie Tabb was called to judge the situation and she had to default her.No otherchoice.
From Puchkova
‘I wasn’t looking where the tennis ball would go,’’ Puchkova said.
From Melanie Tabb
The supervisor commented ‘‘It’s not just the intention’’ that matters, Tabb added. ‘‘It’s the result of her action. And she did hit the line judge. And he was bruised on his knee from the ball, because it was hit very hard.’’.
It’s a sorry some situation, but tennis players, especially the pros, are expected to contain their nerves… and be careful not to harm anybody else.
Apparently being a line judge… is dangerous job!
