Caroline Wozniacki’s Investigation – The Right Call?
Caroline Wozniacki, currently ranked 6th on the WTA, has recently retired against Anne Kremer from Luxembourg (ranked 323) when leading 7-5, 5-0.
Now before you even read further, you immediately see that this is a very strange score to retire at.
Here’s what happened: Caroline has injured herself during the match and the pain in her hamstring was getting worse and worse.
While Caroline felt that she could have finished the match against Anne Kremer, she also felt that she wouldn’t be able to play in the next round as the danger of more severe injury would be much greater.
Caroline Wozniacki and her father / Photo by AP
Caroline’s father Peter coached her during the match and at 3:0 in the second set he suggested that Caroline retires. The tricky thing is that his suggestions were aired online through the microphones on court and lots of people listening to that (they were talking in Polish though) immediately started to bet on Kremer to win the match.
The odds of that happening normally are of course very low and so there was lots of money to be made with the unlikely event of Kremer winning.
Caroline said:
I could possibly have finished the match, but felt there was no way I could get ready for the second round on Thursday, so I chose the sporting way and let her go through. She’s also [playing] at home.
Here’s where in my opinion Caroline is missing the point; tennis and all other sports are competitive and the winners cannot just give their seats to the losers. The losers must earn them.
While Caroline’s gesture may seem very friendly, it is NOT a sporting way to play professional tennis. You are not allowed to help someone get through in any way.
Once you play a match, you can withdraw only if you’re injured and cannot play any more or based on the danger of more severe injury – nothing else matters.
It may seem a nice gesture to Anne Kremer but how about all other WTA girls who are ranked close to Kremer and are fighting for every point!
Kremer is currently ranked 323 in the singles race WTA and by getting to the third round of a WTA tournament she gets a few points which can make a big difference in rankings for someone ranked around 300.
If Anne wins he match, then she deserves the points. If she is given a match so that she plays one more round in her home country, then she doesn’t deserve the points – she didn’t earn them.
Here are a few questions to think about:
1. Did Caroline Wozniacki did the right thing by retiring at 7-5, 5-0 in giving the match to Anne Kremer?
2. Should coaches comments and discussions with players be aired on TV?
3. Should the betting companies allow bets after the match has started?
4. Is WTA correct to put Caroline under investigation?
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October 24th, 2009 at 10:11 pm
I think that coaches’ “comments and discussions with players” are personal – just between themselves, precisely. There should be a way that tournaments’ management can keep it that way.
It must have been so difficult for Caroline. To retire at 7-5, 5-0…..???
The WTA investigations are to sustain its integrity, the tournaments’ and its member pros. I hope that the result is healthy.
October 24th, 2009 at 11:02 pm
1. I think that it’s her choice to retire if she thinks that continue playing would worsen her injury, but not giving the match away because that would not be fair to others.
2. I don’t think that they should air it on TV. Another option would be not allowing coaching at all.
3. No
4. No. I think that she’s just worry about her injury.
October 29th, 2009 at 10:09 am
(1)
Having played a lifetime it appears to me that the difference today is that the professional outlook rather than a sporting gesture takes preference.
In the past in amateur sport the answer would have been yes she was honourabley correct to concede.
As I knew it 40 years ago it was honourable to concede on match point if for any reason you could not continue into the next round.
Yes she was right to concede if her injury was being worsened by continuing.
(2) Absolutely not conversations should be privately between player and coach.
(3)Not in todays world as this would appear to be open to corruption.
(4) All that should be done is a medical check to vindicate the players decision.
November 2nd, 2009 at 9:45 am
I agree with Fergus on all four counts. I would add that since the
conversations were aired for all to hear and considering Caroline’s
excellent reputation that she should definitely be given the benefit
of the doubt that her motives were sincere. But when she states
that she retired to do the nice thing rather than retiring because
she was afraid she would worsen her condition if she finished the
match, she and her father made the wrong decision in today’s
professional tennis and should be mildly repremanded for poor
and unprofessional judgement.