It was supposed to be a classic match-up between two top-10  women tennis players, Nadia Petrova and Ana Ivanovic, in the EastWest Bank tournament. The match play was great until the seventh game of the second set when a ball hit by Ivanovic was called out. At the call, Petrova slammed the ball to the other side of the court directly at Ivanovic.

Right after Petrova hit the ball back she acted like . . . oops, I just slammed a ball into my opponent! There was no mistake here, and anyone watching this match knew it. There was a good three seconds after the call out until the contact with the racket and the ball slamming cross court at Ivanovic.

The fans in the stands reacted, people watching at home reacted, and the sportscasters reacted. Who didn’t react? The officials, who said or did nothing.

'There was no mistake here, and anyone watching this match knew it'


This blatant poor conduct is not acceptable of a player at Petrova’s stature. At the very least she should have apologised - barring that she should have been censored. I only wish that I had had the recorder on so I could more accurately count the seconds.

Women’s tennis has come a long way over the last few years and players like Petrova need to adhere to the  standards set by Justine Henin and the Williams sisters on court. It's fair to say that it was the kind of conduct that would never have been tolerated by the likes of Steffi Graf or Martina Navratalova.

Petrova should be put on notice. True tennis fans will be watching, and officials of the WTA should be seeking answers about her behaviour. It is OK for an individual to get frustrated with their performance but not to the point when you try to cause harm to other players. Petrova lost the match, and rightfully so. The old adage holds true: “What goes around, comes around."