Belgian player Yanina Wickmayer defaulted from both singles and doubles event of the recently concluded Clearwater Challenger, a $50,000 ITF event that took place last weekend. According to reports, Wickmayer smacked a ball backwards which hit a linesperson. This happened during the singles finals against Julie Coin. The linesperson was hit in the shoulder area.
It’s been reported in the past that Wickmayer had issues with her temper but this time, the player stated in her website that the incident was just an accident.
“A bit of an explanation of what happened today, since you all must have been shocked/scared/surprised. I’d won the first set with 6-3 and it was 1-1 in the second. Julie served out and I hit the ball backwards [towards behind the baseline], but a little bit harder than intended. All week there haven’t been standing linesmen over there, but today there was one linesman. The ball accidentally hit his shoulder and I wasn’t allowed to play any further. I had a very good week and I’ve played a couple of really good matches, so this is really sad,” Wickmayer wrote on her website.
Based on ITF rules, the Belgian will lose the ranking points she would have gained from reaching the finals of both events and the prize money as well.
