The Hindu : Sport / Tennis : Umpires face players' ire

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Tuesday, May 31, 2005

Sport

Sport - Tennis

Umpires face players' ire

PARIS: Umpires have been taking plenty of verbal abuse at the French Open.

Damien Steiner of Argentina, the chair umpire for the match Sunday between Rafael Nadal and Frenchman Sebastien Grosjean, was jeered long and loudly, first by Grosjean, then by the centre court crowd.

Fans hooted when a linesman ruled a shot by Nadal on the line, helping him win the point for a 1-0 lead in the second set. When Steiner refused to climb down from his chair to check the mark, Grosjean became incensed.

Jeering by fans delayed play for about 10 minutes, until the "boos" finally faded when Grosjean made a gesture appealing for quiet. Rain forced suspension of the match until Monday with Nadal leading 6-4, 3-6, 3-0.

Paul-Henri Mathieu got so angry during his two-day loss to Guillermo Canas that he unleashed a verbal tirade — including expletives — at umpire Carlos Ramos of Portugal.

The outburst came Saturday evening, with Mathieu two sets down and eager to come off as darkness started to fall.

Scalpers at Roland Garros

The sound of tennis at Roland Garros includes pitches from scalpers directed toward arriving fans.

"Tickets for sale... anyone want tickets?" scalpers say in French or patchy English along the Avenue de la Porte d'Auteuil. Others loiter around metro stations, pouncing as soon as fans see daylight.

It is illegal to sell French Open tickets on the black market, but the demand remains high and scalpers can make good money — as long as they avoid police.

On Friday, centre court tickets fetched nearly $400 — three times the usual black market price for a third-round match. The showdown between 18-year-olds Richard Gasquet and Rafael Nadal had captured the imagination and prices rocketed upward accordingly.

Scalpers are sometimes caught, and the police are less than friendly.

"Why can't you earn an honest living like everyone else who pays taxes and works hard?" a police officer said as he grabbed hold of one Sunday morning.

No job for Courier

Jim Courier didn't get an invitation to work at this year's French Open.

After providing courtside commentary for Australian TV during the Australian Open, he said no networks asked him to work at Roland Garros.

"Maybe they think I don't know anything about clay-court tennis," Courier told French sports daily L'Equipe.

Courier won the French Open in 1991 and 1992. — AP

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Sport