Todd Woodbridge says tennis authorities need to get tougher on instances of players receiving coaching mid-match, after Stefanos Tsitsipas was warned for doing so during his semi-final loss to Daniil Medvedev.
“I am dead against coaching being allowed at Grand Slam tournaments,” Woodbridge said on The Morning Serve.
“I like the fact that we have it at times – we have it at Davis Cup, ATP Cup, Laver Cup – and if you want to have a special event, then put it in there.
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“The thing that we have that separates tennis from the rest of the sports events is that it’s gladiatorial. It’s person against person that can come out, and you’ve got to find a way (to win).”
Tsitsipas has been warned in the past for receiving coaching from his father, Apostolos, but the issue only came to a head on Friday night after a fired-up Daniil Medvedev launched a tirade at the umpire for not penalising it sooner.
An umpire was eventually placed underneath the player’s box before a coaching violation was issued during the fourth set.
The No.4 seed denied receiving any coaching from his father, claiming it was far too noisy inside Rod Laver Arena to be possible.
The Tsitsipas clan were also warned about it during Stefanos’ quarter-final against Rafael Nadal at last year’s Open.
Woodbridge says the most frustrating thing is that he doesn’t believe Tsitsipas needs advice during his matches anyway.
“Tsitsipas, for me, is a great problem solver. He finds ways to win matches, he doesn’t need his dad to be coaching him, I don’t understand that,” he said.
Although the coaching was eventually addressed by the umpire, Medvedev was still fined $12,000 for his outburst.
The issue of coaching in tennis has long been a contentious one, but Woodbridge said fines alone weren’t enough of a deterrent.
“I think the ATP and the Grand Slam committee need to make new rules that if you are caught, so blatantly like his father was here, that warning means that you get ejected from the stadium and if it happens again, your credentials go.
“We’ve got to get tougher on it. It’s a joke how often we just sit there watching it, and so I’m hoping that this is that moment in time where we look at the rules, and we do it properly.”
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