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AEGON CHAMPIONSHIPSJune 17, 2012Tom BarnesChris KermodeLONDON, ENGLAND THE MODERATOR: Questions, please. Q. Tom, can you first of all tell us under which rule and what is your reading of the rule that Mr.Nalbandian was defaulted? TOM BARNES: It's an unsportsmanlike conduct, and the supervisor has the authority to declare an immediate default. Q. So you had no alternative once you realized the gravity of... TOM BARNES: Once I saw the injury, no, that was not a judgment call. I didn't have any other option. Q. Have you personally seen anything quite, in your many years of doing this, seen anything quite like that before? TOM BARNES: Well, yes, I have, but I have never seen it in the finals of a tournament. Q. Could you tell us where you saw something before? TOM BARNES: Oh, the years all run together. I could just probably tell you the city. I saw it in Tokyo; in Guangzhou, China. Q. It's not a first? TOM BARNES: No, definitely not a first. Cincinnati was another place. Q. Have you ever seen blood drawn to that extent? TOM BARNES: No, I can't say I have. I think the other times it's been less bloody (laughter.) Q.So you were saying that when you saw the extent of the injury, was that what decided it then? TOM BARNES: Well, the fact that somebody was hurt, whether he was bleeding or not, would have decided that. Q. If the line judge wouldn't have been there, that would have been a lesser offense, then? TOM BARNES: Well, conceivably if nobody was in the box and he broke the box, he would have just received a warning. Q. Can you tell us what happens to David? Does he lose his ranking points, get an extra fine as well, prize money? TOM BARNES: With the default it's automatic that you lose the ranking points, and you lose the prize money from the tournament, hospitality if there is any, and he's subject to a fine which can be up to $10,000 or Euros, and that is undetermined at the moment. Q. Did he seem contrite when you went onto the court? TOM BARNES: Yeah. He felt really bad. He hurt the guy. Yeah, sure. Q. Not perhaps the ending to the tournament that you expected. From your perspective, all that had to be done was done in a proper way. The crowd, seemed to me, didn't appreciate the gravity of what was going on. Perhaps an explanation to them might have... CHRIS KERMODE: No, you're absolutely right. It was a very, very clear‑cut case. Where Tom did a great job was actually doing it very quickly. I think once you start getting into a huge debate‑‑ I mean, David was wanting to talk about it, but, you know, it was very clear‑cut. You know, it's not the way we wanted to finish the final, by any means. You know, David regrets what he did. You know, he was very apologetic. The crowd, I think, you know, there is a difference from ‑‑I have had loads of people texting in. Anyone who saw it on the television, it was very clear. I mean, it was just like, That's over. It was sort of a red card in football. You're off. I think sort of some sections of the crowd didn't see how bad it was. You know, in the heat of the moment, you know, we were trying to get messages out. Very difficult to do it that quickly. Chris Northey was trying to do it, but every time he started was obviously ‑‑and I can understand the crowd's frustration. They paid money to see it. It was the best weather day we've had and great tennis. It was all going very well. So I can understand their frustration. But from a rules perspective, there was absolutely no other choice. Q. Are you saying there was an attempt to get a rerun of the incident onto the big screen so that the crowd would know exactly what happened? CHRIS KERMODE: We were certainly getting that process in, but there were so many things going on at the time. I was being pulled left, right, and center, and so was sort of everyone else in the media. Yeah, I mean, we were. We didn't get it up there as quickly as we would have liked to. But I think the majority of people there would say ‑‑ 80% of the people there saw it very, very quickly. Q. How is the line judge now? TOM BARNES: Well, I really don't know. I haven't seen him. I heard that he required medical treatment and was bandaged up. That's about all I know. Q. No stitches or anything like that? TOM BARNES: Well, I don't know that. Q. Is there anything in the rules where David Nalbandian might be suspended for what happened today? TOM BARNES: No. Q. Will he be brought back to Queen's? Will he be invited back? CHRIS KERMODE: Yeah. Look, mistakes happen. To be honest, this happened so fresh that I haven't really thought about next year, but, you know, ask me in a couple of weeks at Wimbledon. Yeah, there was no way he intended to do that. It would be foolish to say he's not welcomed back to this tournament. The tennis he's played this week has been phenomenal, and actually one of the best matches he played was on Court 1 against Malisse. The standard of tennis was outrageous. The crowd like him. So, you know, he's come up to the tournament and to Tom and I. He's devastated by this, as you can imagine. You could tell by the crowd that they wanted him to play, so, I mean, you have to forgive these things and move on. Q. With all due respect, his mood to us wasn't really one of devastation, and he used it more as an attack against the ATP. CHRIS KERMODE: Yeah, I mean, you know, he's South American, very emotive. You're going to say things in the heat of the moment. His first thing he said was about the line judge. I want that to be very, very clear. It was not about the ATP. He was very concerned about the line judge. Then, as the time went on, obviously, you know, he says things that spur of the moment, we've all done it. Q. Would you expect the ATP to look into the comments that he made and tell us what the process would be for any action that might be taken? You said that a fine is to be determined. What is the process for that? TOM BARNES: Well, the fine I was talking about was for the action on the court. Regarding what he might have said to you all, yeah, sometimes players will get fined for saying things that are inappropriate. That's covered in our rules. Do we look into it? Yeah, generally. We have our media people look at all the press conferences, and if, you know, if a flag is raised, then we investigate it further. Q. He said it on court in a post‑match interview in front of the whole crowd. TOM BARNES: Oh, yes, I know, but I didn't take that ‑‑I think you have to give the guy a chance to let off some steam there. I mean, he didn't intend to do what he did. He intended to kick the box, but he did not intend to hurt the guy. When he realized that he had, he felt bad. Then when he realized the consequences of that, he felt even worse.  So I think that was a lot of what was talking when he was talking to the crowd. Q. If it hadn't been a incident where blood was drawn and so serious, would you have had the discretion to allow the match to continue? TOM BARNES: If he hurt somebody, no. Q. But in a situation where he sort of kicked the box and slightly collided with him and was okay? TOM BARNES: Well, once again, the key to us was whether he injured somebody. Q. Do you think tennis has got the balance right between allowing players to let off steam? I think this is what he was kind of trying to say was that players are under a lot of pressure. This is a one‑on‑one combat. They almost feel like they are in a bit of straight jacket. Clearly today was inexcusable, but there aren't enough avenues for them to let off steam under the pressure they're under? TOM BARNES: Well, a few years ago we used to fine players for breaking racquets, and we would fine them for hitting the ball out of the stands. We no longer do that unless that action is dangerous to somebody. Then we would.  We don't even give them a warning for the racquet unless they deform it. So we've tried to address just what you're talking about to give the guys a chance to let off some steam by smacking the ball somewhere or breaking a racquet over their knee. So maybe they get a warning, but that's as far as it goes, and we don't fine them for that behavior any longer. That's how we've dealt with that. In most cases, I think it works. We don't see a lot of bad acting. Today just probably could be more bad luck than anything else. Q. If he broke a series of racquets, it escalates... TOM BARNES: Then he gets a warning, a point penalty. Eventually he'd stop doing it. Q. What is that box made of? Was it a sharp edge? TOM BARNES: I don't know what the material is. CHRIS KERMODE: Yeah, I mean, it's a plywood box, and it was just, if it had gone flat‑‑ when he kicked it, the edge went straight into his shin. Q. On that, we do see the linesmen in Paris stand behind that thing that comes out in front of their chairs. You see them tripping over it or they can't move if a player comes hurtling towards them. It's almost impossible to escape from it. I'm know it's an advertising gimmick in a sense, but is there a sense perhaps that we should look at these things and see if they aren't dangerous as a long‑term thing? I mean, a lot of linesmen sit there with nothing around them. It's an accident waiting to happen, almost. You could just slide into them. CHRIS KERMODE: From a line point of view, you could run into the umpire's chair, you could go straight into that, you could go into the net post. You could go, as you see, over the barriers into the crowd. It happens. I mean, should we look at absolutely everything? Of course we do, yeah. Normally when something like this happens, everyone will review it. TOM BARNES: We do have a rule about distances from lines to obstructions, so you have to have a minimum of 21 feet from the baseline to an obstruction of the back, and an obstruction could be this line umpire's box, whatever. Then on the side it's a minimum of 12 feet. We make sure that every tournament complies with that, and if they don't, we don't allow the boxes. But that's where we go with the rules part of that. Q. What happens to the £30,000 that David was supposed to get? Does it go to Cilic or split amongst the rest? Q. Can we have it? (Laughter.) TOM BARNES: I could make a joke, but I won't. No, the money like that, the conduct fine or the loss of prize money would remain with the tournament. Q. Are you considering whether or not to impose sanctions on David, will you consider his previous conduct? TOM BARNES: Well, for this incident, the only thing I can say the act that he did on court at that time. So this particular code violation situation of kicking the box and injuring a linesman, that's the only thing I'm going to consider. Q. What are those boxes actually there for? Is the intention there to protect the linesmen's feet from stray balls or just an opportunity for branding? TOM BARNES: It's a marketing tool, dear. CHRIS KERMODE: Nicely put. Q. How long have you been in your role as a supervisor? TOM BARNES: How long have I been a supervisor? I have been an employee supervisor with the ATP since 1994. Prior to that, I worked as a contract supervisor with the ATP since 1990. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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