Wimbledon Championship/Day 4: All is well. Greg Rusedski's act of contrition has been accepted. He has been fined $2,500 for the string of expletives delivered to middle England during the changeover in his match against Andy Roddick while Tim Henman, with a second-round win, has restored calm.
Henman arrived yesterday like the headmaster paying a visit to a rowdy classroom, although it seems that discipline on Centre Court is an ongoing problem.
In the eighth game of his match against Michael Llodra another shouter, a woman, screamed an inaudible command. It came without the disastrous consequences of Rusedski's eruption but the umpire felt obliged to make a public request that people don't shout line calls at players in mid swing.
It was notable too that the official Wimbledon statement fully exonerated Swedish umpire Lars Graff of any wrong doing in his handling of the Rusedski case.
"Crowd noise and 'out' calls from spectators and other similar distractions are not considered a hindrance and the point should stand as played," said referee Alan Mills.
The fine is a pittance compared to some of the bills players have collected in past tournaments. In 1991 John McEnroe added to his long list by collecting the maximum $10,000 fine for verbal abuse while four years later, and also at Wimbledon, Jeff Tarango was fined $10,000 for verbal abuse and a further $5,000 for walking off the court. Tarango's wife famously slapped the umpire across the face as her husband charged off to the locker-room.
Andre Agassi in 2000 and Marat Safin in 2001 have also been fined the maximum $10,000 for failing to attend the mandatory post-match press conference at the French Open. Both players galloped out of Roland Garros following early round defeats, not to be seen until a few weeks later when they arrived to play Wimbledon. Many other smaller fines are regularly handed out to players.
On Wednesday, Hicham Arazi was fined $1,000 for an audible obscenity during his match against Alexander Popp, while the world number two Lleyton Hewitt has begun a law suit in the New South Wales Australian Supreme Court seeking $2 million damages from the ATP.
He was originally fined $100,000 for failing to do an interview with the ESPN network in Cincinnati, which was later reduced to $20,000 but evidently not enough to satisfy Hewitt.
Clearly verbal abuse and Henman are mutually exclusive packages. Perhaps that's why he has not bettered a semi-final in the competition after 10 years of trying. But Henman yesterday came through without the usual series of hitches he creates for himself.
Aided and abetted by a Frenchman whose only win on the tour since October last year was his first-round victory here three days ago, Llodra's claim to fame is as the killer of a passing sparrow with a backhand at last year's Australian Open.
True.
But Henman's game was tweaked and smoother than in his first round match. His passing off both sides skinned Llodra at the net while his volleys and half volleys were singing. The 6-4, 6-4, 6-3 win was, oddly for him, very trouble free indeed. He now faces another qualifier Robin Soderling in round three. No complaints from the British number one.
"I've only literally seen him play four or five games against (Martin)Verkerk in the first round," said Henman. "So maybe the Beeb (BBC) can help me out and give me a few videos to watch."
Also through to the next round is Andre Agassi, who, typically playing the big points well, had a three-set win over 27-year-old Lars Burgsmuller. Agassi dropped his serve once in the second set but easily grabbed it back without difficulty. Agassis now faces Younes El Aynaoui.
"He (El Aynaoui) gives me a hard time every time," said Agassi. "He's a talented player, a great player to watch and a tough player to play against. I look forward to it. It's going to be a good opportunity to sort of feel his game on the grass, see how it goes there."
Get the feeling the Moroccan might like clay better ?
