At first Ilya Ivashka remained calm, but then the tennis professional really exploded at the ATP tournament in St. Petersburg.
In the first round match against Frenchman Adrian Mannarino, the Belarusian asked for a toilet break during a treatment break and was allowed to do so – but received a penalty when he returned to the field.
When the score was 6: 3 and 2: 3, a service game was taken from him to make it 2-4.
The result: a volcanic eruption at Ivashka. He screamed the hall together and vented his anger.
Referee Haigh cracks down on Ivashka
It is true that videos can be seen how the number 141 in the world rankings asked for a toilet break in the second round during a treatment by the tournament doctor and that was also accepted.
“But you have to be as fast as possible. It’s your time,” said chair referee Richard Haigh rather vaguely.
So Ivashka left the hall without any premonition. Meanwhile, Haigh consulted with ATP supervisor Jorge Mandl, who was also on the pitch.
“He will be penalized for delayed play,” said Mandl.
Thunderstorm on return to the square
When the professional returned he was informed of the punishment. However, he couldn’t understand it. A heated discussion boiled up.
“It was an emergency. I could have peed on the pitch if you’d wanted to,” Ivashka defended himself. The chair referee didn’t care. He announced the warning, the point penalty and the game penalty for triple game delay over the microphone – and finally got Ivashka upset.
Ivashka rages: “This is a joke”
The Belarusian freaked out and yelled at the two officials: “This is not possible. This is a joke. It is not normal. What is happening here?”
He bit granite at Referee Haigh. “If you keep yelling like this, you will get another game penalty. I can understand you, but have to follow the rules,” was the sober announcement.
Ivashka could be seen how much he was seething. Totally frustrated, he grabbed his bat and got ready to continue playing.
Apparently the scene motivated him again. Ivashka turned it up in the second set and won 6: 3 and 7: 6.
