Italian Open star slapped with umpire warning after smacking ball with racket handle | Tennis | Sport
Daniel Altmaier confronted the umpire after he received a code violation for smacking the ball into the air with the handle of his racket. The world No. 64 blew three break points against countryman Alexander Zverev in the second set during their second-round match. In frustration, he turned his racket upside down and used the handle to hit the ball away.
It sailed into the air, and chair umpire Manuel Messina gave him a code violation for racket abuse. “Is that the first time we’ve seen ball abuse off a grip?” commentator Naomi Broady asked. Co-commentator Nick Lester replied: “That’s unheard of! This was probably not the most sensible decision he’s ever made.”
Altmaier waved his arms in the air in disbelief and gave a sarcastic thumbs-up. “Not sure Altmaier agrees with that decision,” Lester added, but he explained there was little the umpire could do once the ball went towards the crowd.
“The fact the ball went into the stands, I think meant the decision was somewhat taken out of the umpire’s hands, to a degree, if we’re giving Manuel a bit of an out here. Once that ball enters the stands, that’s the reason he’s given the code violation.”
Zverev went on to win the game, extending his lead to 4-3. And at the next changeover, Altmaier made it clear that he wasn’t happy with Messina for issuing him a warning.
“Daniel, you can hurt somebody. You don’t have to do it. That’s it. That easy. You lose control of the ball, you can hurt somebody,” the umpire explained.
But Altmaier wasn’t having it. “You feel good?” he asked Messina. “I’m going to break their head, no? What do you mean, hurt? ‘Hurt somebody’.”
As the changeover came to an end, a slow-motion replay of Altmaier’s upside-down smash that earned him the code violation was shown. Lester told viewers: “Discussion at the change of ends, Daniel Altmaier less than pleased to get that code violation, but wasn’t getting a lot of change.
“This is what happened, missed the forehand, not amused, and this ball went into the crowd at a fairly pedestrian pace. And of course, Manuel Messina was explaining to Daniel Altmaier that, once the ball goes into the stands, you could hurt somebody. And ultimately, that’s the letter of the law. Altmaier was not taking it on the chin.”
Altmaier didn’t win another game afterwards. Zverev broke and successfully closed out a 7-5 6-3 victory, booking his place in the third round. “Difficult match. It was a little bit difficult for me physically, I didn’t feel too well. He played incredible, I thought this was the best he maybe ever played, especially against me, and definitely happy with the win,” the No. 2 seed said.
