On November 30, the US Davis Cup Team will try to reclaim the Davis Cup crown that hasn’t been won on US soil since the Agassi-Connors days. Andy Roddick, James Blake, and the doubles duo of Bob and Mike Bryan will be playing Russia in Portland, Oregon to bring the Cup back to the U-S of A. I am psyched!!
On ESPN.com today, I saw a headline that stated that captain Patrick McEnroe was unhappy. What else is new? He is almost as bad as his brother. So what was it this time? He is against the use of Hawk-Eye technology in the Davis Cup final. What?! I thought to myself. I religiously listen to the guy commentate and I know that he only has praised the use of it. I decided to look further.
Well, it turns out that in the final, players will get UNLIMITED line challenges. This means that whenever a player does not agree with a call, they can ask to use Hawk Eye to make the call. Whether it is 1-0, 40-0 or 5-4 and match point, the player can call it. If they want to call it on every point in a game, they can. If they want to call it on every deuce game, they can. The power is in the player.
So why is this going to happen? The International Tennis Federation (ITF) is justifying the rule based on their experiences with the clay court game. Clay courts leave little marks in the clay that show where the balls bounce. A majority of the Davis Cup matches have been on clay, so therefore, players have the constant ability to see where the ball has bounced. Since this is a hard court, where there are no little ball marks, the ITF states that players deserve the same right in this situation, too. So, this means the Davis Cup final will have unlimited line calls instead of the two per set and one-extra in a tiebreak that is intact on the regular circuit.
Okay, we see the problem here that Mr. McEnroe is so upset about. A Hawk-Eye challenge stops game play. The second that racket goes up in the air, play stops, players resort to the baseline, the umpire presses a little button, and the screen shows the call. Play then resumes. It is a twenty to thirty second interruption. So, can this stoppage power be abused? Ummmm…yeah. Big time!
If a player is in a rut and wants to find an easy way to take a break, why not stop play for a little bit to rest? Why not call a challenge…There is a pause for you! McEnroe makes the point that challenge abuse can also be used to “just get inside their opponent’s head.” A challenge can work in your favor, it can work against you. Tennis is such a mental game that a few challenges can change the rhythm and some mental parts of the game. Abuse of the system can really affect the mind of the person on the other side of the net.
I love Hawk-Eye. I really do. I think it great for fans and provides some extra assurance that a match is being played fairly. It also offers the athlete some extra opportunities for strategy, as they are only awarded two challenges a set. They are forced to decide when it is the best time to use them. As Hawk-Eye is exciting and offers so many benefits on the court and off, I do not agree with this unlimited challenge system at all. A player can consistently challenge to work for their own benefit, which takes away from the essence of friendly competition and interrupts play and the mind set of their opponent. While it would be extremely unprofessional to abuse the power, there is a possibility that a player could use it just to get out of a tight part of the match. We shall see what happens, but I am going with a big nay for the ITF on this one.
Want to know more about Hawk-Eye technology and how some of the players feel about it? (Important to note: One OPPONENT is Roger Federer!) – Click Here and Here
On ESPN.com today, I saw a headline that stated that captain Patrick McEnroe was unhappy. What else is new? He is almost as bad as his brother. So what was it this time? He is against the use of Hawk-Eye technology in the Davis Cup final. What?! I thought to myself. I religiously listen to the guy commentate and I know that he only has praised the use of it. I decided to look further.
Well, it turns out that in the final, players will get UNLIMITED line challenges. This means that whenever a player does not agree with a call, they can ask to use Hawk Eye to make the call. Whether it is 1-0, 40-0 or 5-4 and match point, the player can call it. If they want to call it on every point in a game, they can. If they want to call it on every deuce game, they can. The power is in the player.
So why is this going to happen? The International Tennis Federation (ITF) is justifying the rule based on their experiences with the clay court game. Clay courts leave little marks in the clay that show where the balls bounce. A majority of the Davis Cup matches have been on clay, so therefore, players have the constant ability to see where the ball has bounced. Since this is a hard court, where there are no little ball marks, the ITF states that players deserve the same right in this situation, too. So, this means the Davis Cup final will have unlimited line calls instead of the two per set and one-extra in a tiebreak that is intact on the regular circuit.
Okay, we see the problem here that Mr. McEnroe is so upset about. A Hawk-Eye challenge stops game play. The second that racket goes up in the air, play stops, players resort to the baseline, the umpire presses a little button, and the screen shows the call. Play then resumes. It is a twenty to thirty second interruption. So, can this stoppage power be abused? Ummmm…yeah. Big time!
If a player is in a rut and wants to find an easy way to take a break, why not stop play for a little bit to rest? Why not call a challenge…There is a pause for you! McEnroe makes the point that challenge abuse can also be used to “just get inside their opponent’s head.” A challenge can work in your favor, it can work against you. Tennis is such a mental game that a few challenges can change the rhythm and some mental parts of the game. Abuse of the system can really affect the mind of the person on the other side of the net.
I love Hawk-Eye. I really do. I think it great for fans and provides some extra assurance that a match is being played fairly. It also offers the athlete some extra opportunities for strategy, as they are only awarded two challenges a set. They are forced to decide when it is the best time to use them. As Hawk-Eye is exciting and offers so many benefits on the court and off, I do not agree with this unlimited challenge system at all. A player can consistently challenge to work for their own benefit, which takes away from the essence of friendly competition and interrupts play and the mind set of their opponent. While it would be extremely unprofessional to abuse the power, there is a possibility that a player could use it just to get out of a tight part of the match. We shall see what happens, but I am going with a big nay for the ITF on this one.
Want to know more about Hawk-Eye technology and how some of the players feel about it? (Important to note: One OPPONENT is Roger Federer!) – Click Here and Here
No comments:
Post a Comment