Eduardo Schwank fined by the ATP for using too much dropshots and lobs against Chela.

G

Gustavo Kuerten

Rookie
HOUSTON -- Eduardo Schwank was fined $1,000 for his erratic and unusual play after losing 6-1, 6-7 (5), 6-1 to fellow Argentine Juan Ignacio Chela in the second round of the U.S. Men's Clay Court Championships.

Schwank, the seventh seed, says a back problem caused him to use numerous drop shots and lobs in his Wednesday match. The crowd booed him after he foot-faulted on match point.

"The problem with my back, it affected me mentally so it didn't help the match," Schwank said through an interpreter. "I was doing drop shots to shorten the point so to not exert my back so much and also to make him run and get him tired."

Chela said it was difficult to play at such an inconsistent pace.

"It's hard to keep concentration when two points are very well played and two points are poorly played," Chela said through an interpreter. "He kept doing those drop shots so it was really hard to focus. I tried to stay on course and play my best tennis."

Schwank said his back had bothered him for a few days. He planned to return home and expects to play at Barcelona.

"Well I don't like to retire, that's why I just played until the end," Schwank said. "For me it was the same, retiring or not. At the end it's the same. I'd rather stay on the court and lose on court."

Chela disagreed with the strategy.

"I think if you have any sort of pain, where you don't feel well and aren't able to give 100 percent on the court, it's better to just retire," he said.
Click to expand...
That's pretty ******** stuff from the ATP, if you ask me... Why shouldn't a player be able to choose his own game plan?
 
M

Markov

Semi-Pro
That's really weird. I think the ATP is doing that because they want to keep the spectators (get money)
 
drakulie

drakulie

Talk Tennis Guru
LOL, Chela has a hard time against pushers. Perhaps he should read some of the advice given here on TW on how to beat these type of players. Hehehe.

Anyway, I don't see how the ATP could justify fining Schwank, being that he broke no rules.
 
rudester

rudester

Professional
Are drop shots not part of the game, who knows when another shot could fall into disfavor, overhead smash? swing volley? Bad Precedent.
 
W

woodrow1029

Guest
Well that article doesn't really tell the whole story.

What I heard is that he was hitting full swing drop shots on return of serves and then in the last game was just deliberately sailing balls way out. Then on match point, he was called for a foot fault on first serve. So on the second serve, he stepped way into the court (like both feet) to deliberately foot fault to lose the match. So, it was definitely a fine based on the "best efforts" conduct violation.

h) Best Efforts​


i)
A player shall use his best efforts during the match when competing in a tournament.
Violation of this section shall subject a player to a fine up to $10,000
for each violation.
​
​
ii) ​

​

For purposes of this rule, the supervisor and/or the chair umpire shall have
the authority to penalize a player in accordance with the Point Penalty
Schedule. In circumstances that are flagrant and particularly injurious to the
success of a tournament, or are singularly egregious, a single violation of this​
section shall also constitute the player Major Offense of Aggravated Behavior.

​
 
drakulie

drakulie

Talk Tennis Guru
woodrow1029 said:
Well that article doesn't really tell the whole story.

What I heard is that he was hitting full swing drop shots on return of serves and then in the last game was just deliberately sailing balls way out. Then on match point, he was called for a foot fault on first serve. So on the second serve, he stepped way into the court (like both feet) to deliberately foot fault to lose the match. So, it was definitely a fine based on the "best efforts" conduct violation.

h) Best Efforts​


i)
​
​
A player shall use his best efforts during the match when competing in a tournament.​

Violation of this section shall subject a player to a fine up to $10,000
for each violation.
​
​
ii) ​


​
​
For purposes of this rule, the supervisor and/or the chair umpire shall have​

the authority to penalize a player in accordance with the Point Penalty
Schedule. In circumstances that are flagrant and particularly injurious to the
success of a tournament, or are singularly egregious, a single violation of this​
​
​

section shall also constitute the player Major Offense of Aggravated Behavior.​
Click to expand...


well, I wish the ATP would take a hard stance like this on players who purposely violate the time rule.

Schwank easily has a case to beat this, being that he said he was injured. Therefore, he could claim he was giving it his best efforts.
 
drakulie

drakulie

Talk Tennis Guru
Cup8489 said:
agreed. the ATP needs to pull its head out of its ass. as long as those shots are legal, who cares if he uses them more often than normal? maybe Chela should not be such a mental midget, the atp should fine HIM for lack of mental effort.
Click to expand...


LOL. Imagine giving him a fine for being a mental midget, and as a result, not giving his "best effort".
 
M

Max G.

Legend
drakulie said:
well, I wish the ATP would take a hard stance like this on players who purposely violate the time rule.

Schwank easily has a case to beat this, being that he said he was injured. Therefore, he could claim he was giving it his best efforts.
Click to expand...

No. Injured or not, there's no way you can claim that stepping a foot inside the line to deliberately footfault on matchpoint is "giving his best effort."
 
A

Anaconda

Hall of Fame
ATP are a joke. Let's just fine player like Gulbis for just hitting flat shots. Let's fine Roddick for slicing too much.

Maybe the guys down at the ATP will go into coaching and tell them how to play. :roll:
 
D

Deleted member 21996

Guest
ATP should fine Karlo for blasting 70 aces per match. clearly not giving his best effort...
 
A

Anaconda

Hall of Fame
Safin has been fined a few times for 'not trying' during his career. Also picked up a few warnings in matches too.
 
J

Jchurch

Guest
Gorecki said:
:(

really?

it the cover of one of the greatest world music record of all time (imho)

"La Llorona", by the late "Lhasa de Sela"...
Click to expand...

The cover doesn't equate to the quality of the music all the time. And yes that cover is ugly.
 
D

Deleted member 21996

Guest
Jchurch said:
The cover doesn't equate to the quality of the music all the time. And yes that cover is ugly.
Click to expand...

well... it is kind of a homage to her since her death was one of the big losses of this year so far imo.

but lets get back on topic...
 
rk_sports

rk_sports

Hall of Fame
Now this brings a good old debate .. to retire or play until the end? I think in few polls the TW'ers voted to play until the end..here is one effects of that.. isn't it? ;)

"Well I don't like to retire, that's why I just played until the end," Schwank said. "For me it was the same, retiring or not. At the end it's the same. I'd rather stay on the court and lose on court."

Chela disagreed with the strategy.

"I think if you have any sort of pain, where you don't feel well and aren't able to give 100 percent on the court, it's better to just retire," he said.

 
jackson vile

jackson vile

G.O.A.T.
That worst part was that his back was hurt!

So should he have just quit and walked off the court in the middle of the first set?? Then he gets fined and booed for that?
 
S

sureshs

Bionic Poster
Why don't they fine Federer was losing to Berdych and Baggy (due to lung infection)? And he also executed some drop shots.
 
C

Chadwixx

Banned
"The crowd booed him after he foot-faulted on match point."

The crowd were racist and this was no time to call a foot fault since it was an important point.

Bahrami would be sad at this ruling
 
M

Markov

Semi-Pro
The ATP should just fine anyone who loses a match. Even dropping a set could be penalized... So that everyone would play for their lives.
 
West Coast Ace

West Coast Ace

G.O.A.T.
You people are forgetting the Davy - Betfair issue. And apparently missed Woodrow's post - pain in back doesn't force one to double fault with two foot faults on match point.

Did he have a trainer out? If not then his behavior and excuse are even shakier. And if you say 'he knew the trainer couldn't help' then he definitely should have retired.

I don't have any problem with the ATP having some enforcement policy to prevent guys from acting in an unprofessional manner.
 
Love Game

Love Game

Talk Tennis Guru
jackson vile said:
That worst part was that his back was hurt!

So should he have just quit and walked off the court in the middle of the first set?? Then he gets fined and booed for that?
Click to expand...

especially since "a fine up to $10,000 for each violation" ... that means the longer he played, the more chance he would have to be in violation again and again

otoh, you can see by the scoreline that he started feeling a lot better in the second set: 6-1, 6-7 (5), 6-1

not having suffered it, I don't know enough about back injuries, but does back pain often decrease enough to allow a player to take it to a tiebreaker and beyond? :?:
 
JoshDragon

JoshDragon

Hall of Fame
woodrow1029 said:
Well that article doesn't really tell the whole story.

What I heard is that he was hitting full swing drop shots on return of serves and then in the last game was just deliberately sailing balls way out. Then on match point, he was called for a foot fault on first serve. So on the second serve, he stepped way into the court (like both feet) to deliberately foot fault to lose the match. So, it was definitely a fine based on the "best efforts" conduct violation.

h) Best Efforts​


i)
A player shall use his best efforts during the match when competing in a tournament.
Violation of this section shall subject a player to a fine up to $10,000
for each violation.
​
​
ii) ​

​

For purposes of this rule, the supervisor and/or the chair umpire shall have
the authority to penalize a player in accordance with the Point Penalty
Schedule. In circumstances that are flagrant and particularly injurious to the
success of a tournament, or are singularly egregious, a single violation of this​
section shall also constitute the player Major Offense of Aggravated Behavior.

​
Click to expand...

But he still played to the best of his ability, given the injury.
 
MotherMarjorie

MotherMarjorie

Banned
woodrow1029 said:
Well that article doesn't really tell the whole story.

What I heard is that he was hitting full swing drop shots on return of serves and then in the last game was just deliberately sailing balls way out. Then on match point, he was called for a foot fault on first serve. So on the second serve, he stepped way into the court (like both feet) to deliberately foot fault to lose the match. So, it was definitely a fine based on the "best efforts" conduct violation.

h) Best Efforts​


i)
A player shall use his best efforts during the match when competing in a tournament.
Violation of this section shall subject a player to a fine up to $10,000
for each violation.
​
​
ii) ​

​

For purposes of this rule, the supervisor and/or the chair umpire shall have
the authority to penalize a player in accordance with the Point Penalty
Schedule. In circumstances that are flagrant and particularly injurious to the
success of a tournament, or are singularly egregious, a single violation of this​
section shall also constitute the player Major Offense of Aggravated Behavior.

​
Click to expand...
Mother Marjorie's assumption would be that this rule was made for people who purposefully and appearantly would be tanking a match.

In Eduardo's case, he should have just retired due to injury during the match and not even attempted to play with injury.

Given the tournament or the chair referee never penalized Educardo on-court, I'm very surprised that the ATP could levy a fine for something that supposedly happened on-court that was not penalized.
 
G

GS

Professional
A few years ago, there was a guy who was later fined by the ATP for not giving-his-all during a match. C'mon, you experts, who was this player?
 
Kobble

Kobble

Hall of Fame
If they want to make tennis more ralley friend, just go to clay. Have rubberized clay, red clay, clay with cut grass mixed in, and hard clay. No need for fines.
 
r2473

r2473

G.O.A.T.
woodrow1029 said:
Well that article doesn't really tell the whole story.

What I heard is that he was hitting full swing drop shots on return of serves and then in the last game was just deliberately sailing balls way out. Then on match point, he was called for a foot fault on first serve. So on the second serve, he stepped way into the court (like both feet) to deliberately foot fault to lose the match. So, it was definitely a fine based on the "best efforts" conduct violation.

h) Best Efforts​


i)
A player shall use his best efforts during the match when competing in a tournament.
Violation of this section shall subject a player to a fine up to $10,000
for each violation.
​
​
ii) ​

​

For purposes of this rule, the supervisor and/or the chair umpire shall have
the authority to penalize a player in accordance with the Point Penalty
Schedule. In circumstances that are flagrant and particularly injurious to the
success of a tournament, or are singularly egregious, a single violation of this​
section shall also constitute the player Major Offense of Aggravated Behavior.

​
Click to expand...

Will the ATP fine Somdev Devvarman for his performance in the 2nd set today against Hewitt? In his 6-0 loss, he managed only 2 points.

http://www.protennislive.com/frames...tabno=2&eventid=0717&ref=www.atpworldtour.com

Check out the completed matches tab and check out the 2nd set stats for this match.
 
Don't Let It Bounce

Don't Let It Bounce

Hall of Fame
drakulie said:
LOL. Imagine giving him a fine for being a mental midget, and as a result, not giving his "best effort".
Click to expand...
Hmmm... You know, if a precedent were established for fining professional tennis players for being mental midgets, the ATP and WTA could afford to bail out the entire world economy.
 
tacou

tacou

G.O.A.T.
rovex said:
Can't quite exactly remember what happened, but i do remember that he was involved.
Click to expand...

I believe this was right around the time of the gambling thing. Nothing unusual, he just played poorly against a player ranked waaaayy below him. I remember he was pretty bewildered and somewhat insulted for receiving the fine
 
tacou

tacou

G.O.A.T.
Further controversy had also surrounded Davydenko after one of his matches at St. Petersburg Open in October 2007. During his 1–6, 7–5, 6–1 defeat by Marin Cilic he was given a code violation by umpire Jean-Philippe Dercq for not giving his best effort. He was later fined $2000 (£987) by the governing body of men's Tennis, the ATP, but the fine was rescinded upon appeal.[17] The following week, he lost 6–2, 6–2 to Marcos Baghdatis at the Paris Masters. This generated some controversy, as Davydenko was cautioned by the umpire to do his best during the match.[18]

weird, it was Cilic! he's top 10 now...someone should pay Davy back
 
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