CHEATED OUT OF THE DAVIS CUP

Incredible way to cheat Chile out of the Davis Cup. I will not say by the
american players. Usually in points being disputed ,players keep to themselves when
the decision by umpires is in their favor. There is no fair play here, altho it is
not the responsibility or duty of players to call out the points...The woman who called the point good in favor of Roddick was wearing dark sun glasses. She remained
adamant in her decision in spite of the plead by Fernando Gonzalez......Shame on you, gentlemen!!! A power, a real power in any area of endeavor does not have to elbow their way ahead by resorting to petty, deminishing and unfair conduct, or overtly allowing it to happen. Clean up your act, USTA!!!

BUT, OTHERS HAVE SOMETHING TO SAY ABOUT THIS SHAMEFUL INCIDENT ALSO....


U.S. Umpires Cheat Chile Out of Davis Cup
[Opinion] Make shameful decisions during quarterfinal match

Email Article Print Article Marcelo Mackinnon (pelarco)



"Snapping his racquet in two, Gonzalez and Captain Hans Gildemeister protested 'two close line calls,' both of which went in favor of the Americans."

This is all the USTA had to say on its Web page about the disgraceful way in which local umpires favored the U.S tennis team during the match played between April 7 to 9 in Rancho Mirage, California.

It has become common to hear about match rigging in other sports such as football, boxing or horse racing, but now corruption has shown its ugly face in that most honorable game known as tennis. The difficulty with favoring a certain player or team during a tennis match is apart from the thousands of spectators at courtside or the millions that are watching on TV, it is very easy to see if the ball went inside or outside the white line boundaries of the court, as happened on April 9 at the Mission Hills Country Club.

The reputation of U.S tennis will never be the same after this incident, smearing a brilliant campaign of 31 victories at the most important tennis tournament, the Davis Cup. The situation in world tennis is changing with small countries such as Croatia (2005 champions), Chile and Argentina making it to the final stages of the competition. The U.S has not been able to win the Davis since 1995, so this may be the reason why the USTA had to resort to such dishonest tactics as they used against Chile.

Well, enough of the opinion of this disappointed Chilean tennis fan. Let's turn to a brief report of the events as they happened.

On April 7, James Blake (ranked 8th in the world) faced Chile's Fernando Gonzalez (18th). The match began at 11:00 a.m. and ended at 15:30 p.m. --4 hours and 21 minutes! It was an epic battle that Gonzalez won -- 7-6, 6-0, 6-7, 4-6 and 8-10. It was one of the longest matches in Davis Cup history. Blake was exhausted by the effort and was seen limping off the court.

Then came the second match between Andy Roddick (ranked 4th) against Nicholas Massu (37th and 2004 Olympic singles champion). Roddick won the match fair and square -- 6-3, 7-6, 7-6.

On April 8, Chilean captain Hans Gildemeister reserved Gonzalez for the decisive match day on Sunday and so the U.S. pair (ranked 1st) formed by Mike and Bob Bryan won the doubles match over Adrian Gracia and Paul Capdeville by 6-1, 6-2, 6-4.

On April 9, the two players that had been showing their best form, Roddick and Gonzalez faced each other. Gonzalez won the first set 6-4 and Roddick the second set 7-5. Then came the controversial third set when the score was at 4-3 for Roddick, but Gonzalez was getting the upper hand over the local player, making Roddick run from one end of the court to the other.

It seems that the U.S. team sensed that if things continued as they were, the Chilean player would win. Before this there had been four controversial decisions that favored Roddick during crucial stages of the match. However, it was another biased decision against Gonzalez that made the visiting player lose his temper and concentration. See for yourself courtesy of the Chilean newspaper "Las Ultimas Noticias" a video of the shot that went outside the white line by approximately 10 centimeters and was called "in" by the lineswoman. From then on, Roddick managed to keep his cool and defeat a demoralized Gonzalez. The next match was won by Chile's Capdeville over an exhausted James Blake, 3-2 to the U.S.

2006-04-12 16:21 (KST)
©2006 OhmyNews

Other articles by reporter Marcelo Mackinnon

posted by victor @ Wednesday, April 12, 2006