DAVIS CUP - SPAIN vs AUSTRALIA

December 9, 2000

Stefan Fransson

Q. I think quite a few of us are astonished that after two days of fairly hostile reactions from the crowd out there, that there's been no warnings, as far as we've heard, to the crowd. Can you tell us what the situation is as far as you're concerned? What exactly is the ruling?

STEFAN FRANSSON: Well, the partisan crowd rule, as I'm sure you have seen in the rule book, most of you, is they're there to prevent disruptions, interruptions in the matches. So far in this tie, we have not issued any partisan crowd violations, formal ones. We have asked the crowd, before the matches, as is part of this rule, as well, to be fair to both teams, to behave in a manner that is good for the tie, good for Davis Cup. We've also asked them today during the match, told them in Spanish, maybe also in Catalan, my Spanish and Catalan is not that good, to be quiet during the service, during the points. That's what we've done so far.

STEFAN FRANSSON: That it has been?

STEFAN FRANSSON: I think the atmosphere here is very good. It's a very lively crowd. There are times in these matches that we have played so far when the crowd has been close to what I would consider a partisan crowd violation. Those are the times when we have asked them extra to be quiet. So far, we haven't felt, me or the two chair umpires, that we have been in a situation where we should give a partisan crowd violation.

STEFAN FRANSSON: Well, in ties like this, and in other ties, obviously there is a lot of things going on on the court. There are also a lot of things going on off the court in terms of talking to captains, in terms of getting them to behave in a way that you want them to behave. This talk that I had with the two of them today is the only one that has taken place on the court, but that's not the only discussions we've had since the tie started.

STEFAN FRANSSON: Basically what I had seen before that happening was both of them getting more and more sort of into inciting or giving signals to their parts of the crowd. That was what I did go on and tell them, to both of them at the same time, to stop giving signals to their crowd, to stop inciting them.

STEFAN FRANSSON: No.

STEFAN FRANSSON: Well, to start with the first one. Are you referring to the partisan crowd rule or the fact of the captains inciting the crowd?

STEFAN FRANSSON: It's different things.

STEFAN FRANSSON: With the partisan crowd rule, as with all those rules, when we have Davis Cup neutral officials, we do those decisions together. In case of a partisan crowd violation, we would do that jointly, me and the chair umpire who is working that match.

STEFAN FRANSSON: The partisan crowd rule?

STEFAN FRANSSON: No.

STEFAN FRANSSON: With regards to my talk to John this morning, yes, we spoke this afternoon, as we've done every day, and we talked about how the crowd was yesterday. We were discussing that. A formal complaint, I have not had any, if that's what you're looking for. We have been talking about it, yes.

STEFAN FRANSSON: Yes, I do, I remember that. With all crowds, when it's big Davis Cup ties, whether it's this one or the tie in Brazil, or any other tie I've done in the last ten years, people get very excited. Obviously, it's a Davis Cup final, they get even more excited. I do remember quite a few that have been as - what is a good word? - Lively as this one. I myself think that Davis Cup is a competition which brings out a lot of this from the crowds. Our job is to try, which I hope we do, to have the matches played in conditions that are acceptable to everybody. That's why we have our conversations with the captains. That's why we have the rule to use if we feel we need to use the rules. We use all other means that we have, as well, to keep it on an acceptable level.

STEFAN FRANSSON: I guess it depends what you define as an "official complaint." If you define an official complaint as all our conversations since I arrived here since Monday, yes, there was an official complaint. If you define it as something in writing or something along those lines, no, there was not an official complaint.

STEFAN FRANSSON: Official?

STEFAN FRANSSON: No.

STEFAN FRANSSON: As I said earlier, when the question came up about inciting the crowd, et cetera, we've had on-court conversations today and off-court conversations previously.

STEFAN FRANSSON: "Out of order," I guess it depends what you mean by that. He was told together, with John on court today, to stop inciting the crowd. Yes, that's what happened there. I had conversations with him, as I said, between yesterday and today, as well.

STEFAN FRANSSON: I think that's a question that doesn't really have to do with the partisan crowd rule, to be really honest.

STEFAN FRANSSON: I think the partisan crowd rule doesn't cover the behavior of the spectators. That's something different.

STEFAN FRANSSON: I think the partisan crowd rule is good, if you ask me about that one. I guess your question is, should we sort of try to also have rules regarding the behavior of spectators?

STEFAN FRANSSON: Then, you know, I haven't really been thinking about that, to be honest. That's a totally different thing.

STEFAN FRANSSON: I don't think it's good when sportsmen are being booed. It's not good in tennis, it's not good in soccer, it's not good in ice hockey, it's not good in handball, it's not good in whatever sport you look at, but it happens everywhere.

STEFAN FRANSSON: No. The court has just been swept and kept taken care of, basically the same way the whole week. We have been taking away clay, but that has happened just because the way they make the court, there will be loose clay that is moved around. It ends up in certain spots on the court where it's not good to have that much. In those cases, we take it away. Otherwise, the court has been very good.

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