By Chris Umpierre
Daily Bruin Staff
First Gustavo Kuerten, then Andre Agassi, and now Marcelo Rios.
All have made early exits from the once star-studded Mercedes-Benz
Cup.
Before a near-capacity crowd at the Los Angeles Tennis Center on
Wednesday, No. 29 Rios was ejected in his first-round match against
Goichi Motomura for verbal abuse directed at chair umpire Tony
Nimmons.
Under ATP Tour policy, Rios will forfeit his prize money and
lose his hotel accommodations. Tour supervisor Gayle Bradshaw said
the Chilean also faces “a few thousand” dollar
fine.
The altercation began in the first set with the score 5-3 as
Motomura got ready to serve. Rios raised his hand to stop the
match, but Nimmons did not see the hand movement and Motomura
registered an ace.
Rios immediately walked over to the chair umpire and it was
during that discussion that Nimmons said Rios told him what
Bradshaw called “the magic words.”
Rios said, however, that he did not direct his expletive toward
Nimmons.
“I go to talk to him and he says I said something
bad,” said Rios, who threw his racquet in disgust after his
ejection. “I didn’t say it to him, I said it to me.
“I said stop because I wasn’t ready,” he added
about raising his hand as Motomura was serving. “Some people
(in the stands) were moving. (Nimmons) said, “˜No there was
nobody moving.’ I said, “˜How can you see if they were
behind your back?'”
Bradshaw walked onto the court in the middle of the discussion
and was told by Nimmons that Rios directed an expletive at him.
“I went back to the chair umpire at least three times and
said, “˜Are you 100 percent sure that he was looking at you
and that’s what he said? And he said
“˜Yes,'” Bradshaw said.
“There was a disagreement on what was said, but the umpire
told me he was 100 percent sure,” he added.
Bradshaw asked Rios if he said the words but the Tour supervisor
said Rios did not admit to all of the words.
“There’s a difference between adding
“˜you’ at the end, which he said he did not,”
Bradshaw said.
Earlier this year, the Tour did away with the three-step warning
system where an arguing player is warned and then deducted one game
and then two games. The Tour kept the immediate ejection
policy.
In the ensuing press conference, Rios was asked if he was
sorry.
“I didn’t say it to him, so I’m not
sorry,” he said.
Rios, who was No. 1 last year and is holder of 16 ATP titles,
said his ejection is typical of the Tour’s increasingly
strong reactions.
“I think this sport is getting too strict,” he said.
“We are not doing anything bad. We are not killing
anybody.”
Bradshaw said this is the part of his job he does not enjoy.
“This is the worst,” said Bradshaw, who pointed out
that Agassi had a similar incident in Indianapolis a couple of
years ago.
“Everybody loses in this situation,” he added.
“We have a full stadium that came out to see Marcelo. The
tournament has unfortunately lost a few of its top names to
injuries and other circumstances.”
Meanwhile, a very happy Motomura ran back to the locker room
after the match to cancel a plane flight he had reserved for the
following day.
“Just in case,” Motomura said about the flight he
had scheduled for Thursday. “There’s a very small
chance to win against (Rios).”
Before the heated discussion, Motomura ““ ranked No. 230 in
the world ““ was playing well against the heavily favored
Rios.
After winning his opening serve, Japan’s No. 1 player
broke Rios and won his next serve to take a commanding 3-0
lead.
“¢bull; “¢bull; “¢bull;
In Wednesday’s last match, 1996 Mercedes-Benz Cup champion
Michael Chang beat Kevin Ullyett 6-1, 6-3.
Chang will play the No. 5 seeded Wayne Ferreira in the
quarterfinals on Thursday.