Francesca Schiavone on Zhu´s Unsportsmanlike Behavior: ´There Must Be Respect´ (VIDEO)

MARCH 15, 2015 18:52

There is one fundamental unspoken rule in sports: 'respect your opponent'. And tennis should never be an exception. That's why an evergreen veteran like Francesca Schiavone, capable of winning a Slam at the French Open in 2010, didn't accept her opponent's behavior in the first round of the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells.

Facing Chinese qualifier Lin Zhu, the Italian let the match slip away from her hands after convincingly winning the first set. The Chinese took control of the second set, not even losing a single game. And that's when it all happened.

On the first set point in her favor, the Chinese ran on a drop shot hit by Schiavone unable to reach the ball, letting it clearly bounce on the ground to send it across the net, thus losing the point. Unfortunately disturbed by the fans, the chair umpire didn't see the ball hitting the ground and decided to give the point to Zhu, and allowing the Chinese with the second set.

Francesca snapped. Bewildered, not only by the chair umpire's evident error, but unable to accept that her opponent wasn't ready to accept the point's loss. The Italian asked Zhu to admit the ball had bounced, receiving nothing but half a smile and denial by the Chinese.

Take a look: