There is a rather distinct line in tennis that players can't cross when it comes to letting out frustrations. Kicking your racket into the crowd would constitute as crossing said line, yet somehow, Germany’s Daniel Altmaier came away relatively unscathed.
During the second set of his quarterfinal matchup against American Tommy Paul in the Hamburg Open on Thursday, Altmaier threw his racket onto the court after Paul broke his serve.
Tennis players throw and destroy their rackets all the time, but Altmaier took things a significant step further.
With his racket bouncing back toward him after ricocheting off his bench, the German decided to kick his racket. The racket made its way back to him a second time, and he elected to deliver just one more kick for good measure, which sent the piece of hardware a couple of rows into the crowd.
The gentleman who caught the racket and casually tossed it back to the 27-year-old player didn't think too much of the situation, and the same goes for the chair umpire, Fergus Murphy.
Murphy did issue Altmaier a code violation for racket abuse, but did not issue him a default, which is immediate disqualification from the match.
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The ATP rulebook has a relatively straightforward ruling on racket abuse: "Players shall not violently, dangerously or with anger hit, kick or throw a racket or other equipment within the precincts of the tournament site.
"For purposes of this rule, abuse of rackets or equipment is defined as intentionally, dangerously and violently destroying or damaging rackets or equipment or intentionally and violently hitting the net, court, umpire’s chair or other fixture during a match out of anger or frustration."
It certainly appeared that Altmaier checked every box above as he threw his racket intentionally before intentionally kicking it into the crowd, but was able to continue on in the match. With the racket not injuring anyone in the crowd, Altmaier was essentially given the benefit of the doubt.
Paul went on to win the match 6-2, 7-5, but if Altmaier had earned the victory after the intense outburst, it's fair to say the American would not have taken kindly to the result, and understandably so.
One of the most recent and noteworthy defaults involved Novak Djokovic, when he defaulted from the 2020 U.S. Open after hitting a ball away in frustration that hit a line judge in the throat.
