"Racquet abuse" point penalty?

[WisconsinPlayer]

So last week I was in a USTA under 16 tournament and I was in a tiebreak 3-3 and lost a point that was our longest rally. Im not a racquet breaker or abuser so Im not clear on the rules, but I tossed/skidded my racquet across the ground like 2 feet. I was given a point penalty from the umpire so now I was down 3-5 in the tiebreak rather than 3-4. Was this deserved? Or was she power hungry just wanting to feel important? I felt that it was really uncalled for considering I lost the first set and it was the 2nd set tiebreak after an important point.

 

[Moveforwardalways]

These umpires for USTA junior matches are just on a power trip, drunk on power in fact. Can't believe they would do that. BTW, is there a rule against it?

 

[WisconsinPlayer]

These umpires for USTA junior matches are just on a power trip, drunk on power in fact. Can't believe they would do that. BTW, is there a rule against it?

Ive seen players break racquets, bounce racquets, throw racquets and not once did they get a penalty... Once I saw a warning which is harmless. I didnt even say anything when it happened because I knew she wouldnt budge and that she was most likely just power tripping. I didnt hold up the match, disrupt anyone or even harm my racquet, it got like 4 small scratches so I have no idea how she had the stupidity to call a penalty during such an important point. I looked it up and couldnt find a ruling so thats when I posted this thread

 

[Brokenstrings]

You need to own it and learn from it. It will make you better.

 

[WisconsinPlayer]

You need to own it and learn from it. It will make you better.

So is there a rule or not

 

[Stretchy Man]

Seems a little hard to believe. How is it even possible to toss a racquet only 2 feet? How far did you really toss it? Had you been behaving badly before this? Any complaining, moaning, arguing, hitting balls into the net?

 

[jfmcdowell357]

I think it is Section 18. You can use a search engine to find the details. Hopefully you learn and grow from the experience


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[WisconsinPlayer]

Seems a little hard to believe. How is it even possible to toss a racquet only 2 feet? How far did you really toss it? Had you been behaving badly before this? Any complaining, moaning, arguing, hitting balls into the net?

No im almost always really calm on the court, I just used my wrist to "toss" the racquet behind me against the ground and it skidded 2 or 3 feet.

 

[WisconsinPlayer]

Found this, but in my opinion it still wasnt racquet abuse, it was barely scratched
Conduct:
Visible or audible profanity or obscenity.
Abuse of racket, balls, or equipment.
Verbal or physical abuse of a player or official.
Coaching.
Abusive conduct by a player or a person associated
with a player. (USTA Regulation I.M.10. refers to this
situation.)
Retaliatory calls (obviously bad calls made in retaliation
for the opponent’s calls.)
Unsportsmanlike conduct (any other conduct that is
abusive or detrimental to the sport).

Penalties
Violations shall be penalized as follows:

First Offense………………………Point
Second Offense………………….Game
Third Offense……………………Default

 

[NTRPolice]

You received a warning for something else, didnt you? Tell the whole story.

 

[WisconsinPlayer]

You received a warning for something else, didnt you? Tell the whole story.

Nope. See my post above about the rules I found, do you think what I did was racquet abuse? I just feel like since I literally only tossed it and it skidded 2-3 feet, along with us being in a tiebreak she should have atleast been more lenient

 

[WisconsinPlayer]

Also im not sure if those USTA rules are for the adult leagues or 18 and under, so correct me if those rules are wrong

 

[randomcollegeplayer]

This is one of those situations that's up to the umpire's discretion. Some days you'll get hit with a penalty, and some days you wont. The safest bet is to just keep the stick in your hands from now on.

 

[WisconsinPlayer]

This is one of those situations that's up to the umpire's discretion. Some days you'll get hit with a penalty, and some days you wont. The safest bet is to just keep the stick in your hands from now on.

Yeah, planning on it haha

 

[esgee48]

USTA Section
18. Player shall not engage in unsportsmanlike conduct. During the course of a
match a player shall not engage in:
a. Verbal abuse. Swear at an official, a spectator, or an opponent in a voice
that can be heard by any person;
b. Visible or audible profanity or obscenity. Use profanity or insulting,
abusive, or obscene language in any way that may be heard by any
person or use obscene, insulting, or abusive gestures;
c. Racket abuse. Throw or break a racket other than in the normal course
of play;
d. Ball abuse. Deliberately hitting, throwing, or kicking a ball that is not in
play if the ball:
• leaves the playing area;
• hits or comes close to hitting any person; or
• could cause damage or harm.

You played in a sanctioned USTA tournament, which applied the rule above. For non-adults sometimes the rules appear to be harsh, but younger people tend to abuse the system more than adults, at least IME. I have also seen adults blow their cool, but they normally break things during changeover. Sometimes they receive a warning, sometimes a penalty. Swearing or whining, even against yourself will get you penalties. If you were doing it thru out the match.... It is at descretion of Umpire or Official supervising the match. Just keep your cool. It is a game, not something that involves 'life or death' choices.

 

[WisconsinPlayer]

USTA Section
18. Player shall not engage in unsportsmanlike conduct. During the course of a
match a player shall not engage in:
a. Verbal abuse. Swear at an official, a spectator, or an opponent in a voice
that can be heard by any person;
b. Visible or audible profanity or obscenity. Use profanity or insulting,
abusive, or obscene language in any way that may be heard by any
person or use obscene, insulting, or abusive gestures;
c. Racket abuse. Throw or break a racket other than in the normal course
of play;
d. Ball abuse. Deliberately hitting, throwing, or kicking a ball that is not in
play if the ball:
• leaves the playing area;
• hits or comes close to hitting any person; or
• could cause damage or harm.

You played in a sanctioned USTA tournament, which applied the rule above. For non-adults sometimes the rules appear to be harsh, but younger people tend to abuse the system more than adults, at least IME. I have also seen adults blow their cool, but they normally break things during changeover. Sometimes they receive a warning, sometimes a penalty. Swearing or whining, even against yourself will get you penalties. If you were doing it thru out the match.... It is at descretion of Umpire or Official supervising the match. Just keep your cool. It is a game, not something that involves 'life or death' choices.

Thanks for the detailed response! I agree, I see more people my age breaking racquets/having bad sportsmanship much more than older adults. Ive always been proud of my ability to stay cool on the court ;p Although I finally lost it a little bit in the tiebreak haha, it happens to everyone

 

[MathGeek]

If my son were to throw a racquet as you did, or otherwise violate any of the unsportsmanlike code described above, I certainly hope he would be penalized by match officials. Those behaviors have no place on the tennis court.

I'm fairly certain his coach has taught him these rules, but I have forwarded to him just in case.

 

[NTRPolice]

Nope. See my post above about the rules I found, do you think what I did was racquet abuse? I just feel like since I literally only tossed it and it skidded 2-3 feet, along with us being in a tiebreak she should have atleast been more lenient

It depends how/when the racket hit the court, how many times it hits the court and whether or not you've already been warned for another Unsportsmanlike Conduct violation. Generally speaking, smashing a racket isnt a code or immediate loss of point.

In JTT the rules are enforced much more strictly than in Adult League and rules/penalties are sometimes different. The number one reason for this is to keep kids, parents, and coaches in line. Even so, it's unlikely you got an immediate point penalty for your "racket being tossed and skidded" on the ground.

Unless...

-You already have a warning.
-You're a known "problem".
-Your team/coach are known "problems".
-The ump is inexperienced.

If the situation occurred EXACTLY as you have described, then the ump did indeed choose to enforce the rules poorly, especially since this happened during the tie breaker. Most new umps will enforce the rules by letter of the law and always dispense the maximum penalty. Experienced umps will use the totality of the situation to decide whether or not to impose penalty on an offending player. The grand idea of tennis officiating is to ultimately let the players play and decide the match themselves. No ump should/want to call give a warning/point/game/match penalty unless it's absolutely deserved.

New umps are told all of this during training. It's very rare these days that a new ump just "comes out firing".

What im saying is that you were probably "tossing your racket" around all match. A roaming ump probably saw/heard it, or someone brought it to their attention. After observing the court, they issued the penalty. It's generally a warning, but it's not required to be.

 

[tennis tom]

...it got like 4 small scratches so I have no idea how she had the stupidity to call a penalty during such an important point. I looked it up and couldnt find a ruling

Yes there is such a rule, it's called "THE 4 SMALL SCRATCHES RACQUET ABUSE RULE". Look it up, it's in the fine print. As, for calling it on important points to you, and important to the history of the game, see Serena USO, loss of match, $92,00 fine, . You are lucky in your case the fine is only 92 cents, payable to the next jr. tournament umpire you see--it goes to their retirement fund, not that they need one considering the high salaries they receive for these celeb jobs and the golden parachute retirement packages they get.

As for why you were singled out for this honour, it's like when you are pulled over by the Highway Patrol for speeding, and you say "But..but, Occifer, everyone else was speeding too!" And he answers you, "Son,it's like when you go duck hunting, and you aim your shot-gun at a flock of ducks, and you bag one--you were just the lucky duck today".

 

[Rattler]

First off I think you may have had an inexperienced umpire, that is assuming your account of the events is true...

You can always appeal any code violation on court to the referee (the head umpire)...and the referee has to be available to you either in person or by phone....granted at a set down and 3-5 in the 2nd set tiebreak it is likely to affect your rhythm...

Did you ask the umpire why she thought is was racquet abuse?

Was the toss violent?

Secondly the racquet does not have to be broken to be racquet abuse...it has to be forceful or violent in nature.

Did you appeal the suspension points that you get along with this code? Your section's Director of Junior Competetive tennis automatically assigns susspension points to evey code violation ranging from 2 points for one offs and as many as 10 for defaults. Each playet can accumulate so many points before they are suspended from USTA competion (if memory serves 12 points is the magic number, unless the player did something that was egregeous like took a swing at another player, spectator, umpire...made racial slurs towards any of the above...damaged property, that sort of thing)

Third the point pentaly system is the same for Juniors and Adults; however, the philosophy of how stringently its enforced is different...meaning the Juniors have very little wiggle room. Much more letter of the law than spirit...for two reasons...first, as I mentioned at the start of this reply, you will encounter more less-experienced umpires at Jr events..the referee will be more experienced but the roving umpires are a mixed bag...so although they know the rules, they may lack in match management...meaning how they can (unintentionally) affect a match by holding to the strictest letter of the rules. The second reason is they are encouraged from the referee, who is instructed by the section's Jr council to strictly enforce the code.

The "power trip" of umpires isn't really true. It is a wide brush to paint most of them. Most just want to do a good job because they enjoy the sport...believe me it isn't for the pay or the power...there is little of both.

I know there are a million stories of umpires who have overreached in circumstances...I get it, and I'm not denying that there are a few 'bad apples' out there, but the majority are not.

 

[jcgatennismom]

Dont ever play in the South-you can get a point penalty for saying OMG. I think the tournament directors set the tone for how they strict they want the refs to be. They also can give 2-5 points for the same offense. I remember this kid once saying the F word, and the old guy at the tourney desk yelled "not on my courts!" and ran down from the tourney desk redfaced to personally write the kid up instead of letting the roving umpire take care of it. As far as racquet abuse, sometimes kids get warned and sometimes they get an automatic code even if it is after a match, e.g. racquet was dropped, bounced, thrown, etc after player lost a close match. I've seen kids almost get coded when observers could tell the racquet just slid out of a kid's hand=hot day, sweaty palms. Ref backed off when kid said that it just slipped. The funniest code my son got when he was around 14 was the code we called the "McNugget abuse." He had brought his lunch on court. After losing, he had taken his racquet and smushed up the nuggets. Ref saw, coded him, and justifially told him to clean the crumbs off the court. He was traveling with a pro so I didnt see it-wasn't funny at the time, but is funny now.

 

[WisconsinPlayer]

It depends how/when the racket hit the court, how many times it hits the court and whether or not you've already been warned for another Unsportsmanlike Conduct violation. Generally speaking, smashing a racket isnt a code or immediate loss of point.

In JTT the rules are enforced much more strictly than in Adult League and rules/penalties are sometimes different. The number one reason for this is to keep kids, parents, and coaches in line. Even so, it's unlikely you got an immediate point penalty for your "racket being tossed and skidded" on the ground.

Unless...

-You already have a warning.
-You're a known "problem".
-Your team/coach are known "problems".
-The ump is inexperienced.

If the situation occurred EXACTLY as you have described, then the ump did indeed choose to enforce the rules poorly, especially since this happened during the tie breaker. Most new umps will enforce the rules by letter of the law and always dispense the maximum penalty. Experienced umps will use the totality of the situation to decide whether or not to impose penalty on an offending player. The grand idea of tennis officiating is to ultimately let the players play and decide the match themselves. No ump should/want to call give a warning/point/game/match penalty unless it's absolutely deserved.

New umps are told all of this during training. It's very rare these days that a new ump just "comes out firing".

What im saying is that you were probably "tossing your racket" around all match. A roaming ump probably saw/heard it, or someone brought it to their attention. After observing the court, they issued the penalty. It's generally a warning, but it's not required to be.

Hmm, Im not sure then, Ive played tournaments at this place a few times and they always seem to like me, Id never seen this ump so it could be that she was new. It happened exactly how I explained it, no issues/bad sportsmanship prior to the point penalty. Im thinking that maybe because I look older for a 16 year old, and the guy I was playing is 15 and looks younger, she might have thought it was a bad influence that the older player tossed his racquet? Im not complaining I just wanted to see the correct ruling and now Ive learned, thank you!

 

[WisconsinPlayer]

First off I think you may have had an inexperienced umpire, that is assuming your account of the events is true...

You can always appeal any code violation on court to the referee (the head umpire)...and the referee has to be available to you either in person or by phone....granted at a set down and 3-5 in the 2nd set tiebreak it is likely to affect your rhythm...

Did you ask the umpire why she thought is was racquet abuse?

Was the toss violent?

Secondly the racquet does not have to be broken to be racquet abuse...it has to be forceful or violent in nature.

Did you appeal the suspension points that you get along with this code? Your section's Director of Junior Competetive tennis automatically assigns susspension points to evey code violation ranging from 2 points for one offs and as many as 10 for defaults. Each playet can accumulate so many points before they are suspended from USTA competion (if memory serves 12 points is the magic number, unless the player did something that was egregeous like took a swing at another player, spectator, umpire...made racial slurs towards any of the above...damaged property, that sort of thing)

Third the point pentaly system is the same for Juniors and Adults; however, the philosophy of how stringently its enforced is different...meaning the Juniors have very little wiggle room. Much more letter of the law than spirit...for two reasons...first, as I mentioned at the start of this reply, you will encounter more less-experienced umpires at Jr events..the referee will be more experienced but the roving umpires are a mixed bag...so although they know the rules, they may lack in match management...meaning how they can (unintentionally) affect a match by holding to the strictest letter of the rules. The second reason is they are encouraged from the referee, who is instructed by the section's Jr council to strictly enforce the code.

The "power trip" of umpires isn't really true. It is a wide brush to paint most of them. Most just want to do a good job because they enjoy the sport...believe me it isn't for the pay or the power...there is little of both.

I know there are a million stories of umpires who have overreached in circumstances...I get it, and I'm not denying that there are a few 'bad apples' out there, but the majority are not.

It actually motivated me a bit in the tiebreak because I didnt think it was fair I still lost but I played the tiebreak well haha. I didnt ask or complain because I knew that would throw me off more than the actual penalty. Besides that, I know that umpires cant (Or never) change their own calls

It wasnt violent, I was still facing the net after I missed an easy volley and then I tossed the racquet underhand behind me.

I dont think anyone thought it was forceful or violent in nature, the players dad actually asked me why his son got a free point after lol, he thought I dropped the racquet.

I didnt appeal the suspension points, I dont even think I got any...? How can I check?

 

[Rattler]

Contact your section or the referee...to see if any suspension points were given.

Also I cannot stress enough, if you feel you were given a code violation incorrectly or you want further clarification, or clarification beyond what the umpire explained, ask to speak to the referee.

I have seen referee's rescind code violations many times....hell I've rescinded quite a few myself.

 

[WisconsinPlayer]

Contact your section or the referee...to see if any suspension points were given.

Also I cannot stress enough, if you feel you were given a code violation incorrectly or you want further clarification, or clarification beyond what the umpire explained, ask to speak to the referee.

I have seen referee's rescind code violations many times....hell I've rescinded quite a few myself.

I feel as if it was given incorrectly but unless I was given some kind of suspension point I dont really have a need to fix it. Youve seen umpires undo a point penalty? Ive never seen that, otherwise I mightve said something Thanks for the info

 

[newpball]

So last week I was in a USTA under 16 tournament and I was in a tiebreak 3-3 and lost a point that was our longest rally. Im not a racquet breaker or abuser so Im not clear on the rules, but I tossed/skidded my racquet across the ground like 2 feet. I was given a point penalty from the umpire so now I was down 3-5 in the tiebreak rather than 3-4. Was this deserved? Or was she power hungry just wanting to feel important? I felt that it was really uncalled for considering I lost the first set and it was the 2nd set tiebreak after an important point.

I suggest you get over it and move on!

Also make sure you do your school homework and always listen to your parent's advice!

 

[beernutz]

Thanks for the detailed response! I agree, I see more people my age breaking racquets/having bad sportsmanship much more than older adults. Ive always been proud of my ability to stay cool on the court ;p Although I finally lost it a little bit in the tiebreak haha, it happens to everyone

That's because adults generally have to pay for the new ones no matter who breaks them.

 

[WisconsinPlayer]

That's because adults generally have to pay for the new ones no matter who breaks them.

Yep, could be why Ive never been a racquet abuser, I have to buy my own

 

[beernutz]

Yep, could be why Ive never been a racquet abuser, I have to buy my own

I never broke a racquet as a social-tennis-playing kid but I've broken two as an adult though thankfully never during a league match. Hopefully the one I broke 5 years ago while losing to my younger brother will be the last one.

 

[NTRPolice]

That's because adults generally have to pay for the new ones no matter who breaks them.

I broke rackets as a kid. When I grew up and had to buy my own **** I realized how stupid I was to destroy my parents hard earned money.

It's a great lesson to learn.

 

[woodrow1029]

In NorCal we now have a published zero tolerance policy for junior events. No more "soft warnings" or "cautions". So, if your section has a similar policy that could be it. In NorCal, the section has taken the discretion out of it because it was getting out of control.

Otherwise it is up to the officials discretion. And most people know that the story that we get on these forums from the player involved is pretty much never the whole story.

 

[MathGeek]

In NorCal we now have a published zero tolerance policy for junior events. No more "soft warnings" or "cautions". So, if your section has a similar policy that could be it. In NorCal, the section has taken the discretion out of it because it was getting out of control.

Otherwise it is up to the officials discretion. And most people know that the story that we get on these forums from the player involved is pretty much never the whole story.

I like that approach. I haven't seen much I would describe as "out of control" in the south, but zero tolerance just makes sense with juniors.

 

[woodrow1029]

I like that approach. I haven't seen much I would describe as "out of control" in the south, but zero tolerance just makes sense with juniors.

It's not so much it was getting bad with racket abuse, but the behavior in general was. Players and parents.

 

[NTRPolice]

It's not so much it was getting bad with racket abuse, but the behavior in general was. Players and parents.

Which is why it's great that penalties can be levied against players even when the offender is a parent, coach, relative, and even in some extreme cases in which the offender is merely a "friend" or "associate" of the player.

 

[MathGeek]

Which is why it's great that penalties can be levied against players even when the offender is a parent, coach, relative, and even in some extreme cases in which the offender is merely a "friend" or "associate" of the player.

Yes, I pretend to be rooting for my son's opponents and get penalties levied against them all the time. Fun stuff!