HERE'S a new rule for participants in Grand Slam tennis: Play bad in the first round and you could get fined.
Several players had already been meted penalties for breach of the law.
Just this week, in what officials deemed a lack of effort, Carla Suarez Navarro of Spain was assessed $40,000. It came in the ongoing US Open on Friday, two days after retiring from her first-round match.
Citing a lower-back injury, Navarro, seeded 28th, stopped playing after dropping a 6-2 opener to Timea Babos of Hungary. But tournament referee Soeren Friemel saw things differently.
“...She (Navarro) did not perform to the required professional standards,” said Friemel.
Navarro thus was sacked under the Grand Slam Board decree introduced a year ago that violates the first-round “performance rule.”
Meaning, a Grand Slam player must be at his/her best during almost the entirety of first-round play. Bernard Tomic was docked $55,000 at Wimbledon last month after a three-set loss in the first round lasting only 58 minutes.
The directive’s spirit is to deter players nursing injuries from entering a Slam, which pays first-round performers at least $55,000—win or lose.
Navarro was due to collect $58,000 when the fine was imposed, which is appealable.
She also retired from a match in Toronto earlier this month—proof that she was still hurting when she faced Babos.
Babos would next bow in three sets to American teenager Coco Gauff, 15.
“Not the easiest weeks for me dealing with some back pain,” AP quoted Navarro as tweeting on Friday. “We made our best effort to be ready and play our heart out, but it got really worse during my opening match in New York.”
With the new rule, injuries don’t count.
Makes sense. Why attempt to play when you aren’t 100 percent healthy? This is the Slam, where you are supposed, expected, to be at your best every single second.
It’s pretty obvious: You are hurting, but you play the first round anyway just to collect the $55k or so. Kinda highway robbery. Makes you a thief. It sucks.