Only a few people were watching an April 2019 college tennis match between Ohio State and Illinois, but just 24 hours later, a pivotal moment from that rivalry became the talk of the sport.
A social media post began circulating with a slow-motion video of John McNally, one of the Buckeyes’ best players, sending the ball wide to his opponent on the par court during a second-set tiebreaker. Illinois State’s Alex Brown stretches to put his racket on the ball, and fires a high floater that forces McNally back.
When the ball lands, McNally immediately shouts “No!” It is the universal signal for the call to exit. Brown immediately raised his hands in disgust. Many of his teammates and spectators gasped audibly. They clearly saw the ball, and so did those who watched the slow-motion replay that made its way online.
But only McNally’s call mattered. He took the point and soon after won the match 7-6, 7-6.
For many observers of the college tennis scene, it was as sad as usual.
“It absolutely saddens me,” said Brad Gilbert, the 1982 NCAA singles runner-up and longtime professional who reached No. 4 in the world. When Gilbert isn’t commentating for ESPN or coaching recent U.S. Open champion Coco Gauff, he’s often attending matches at Pepperdine, his alma mater, and has seen more than his share of situations that he might consider blatant cheating.
“It’s the same when I was playing, especially on the big points, 30 points, but it took it to a whole other level,” Gilbert said. “Sometimes, on the far sideline, you can miss a call or miss a really close call, but the obvious cheating in college tennis has to be eliminated.”
With the exception of golf, no sport requires more honesty from its competitors to ensure fair competition. But in tennis, you don’t police yourself as much as you control your opponent.
According to the USTA Code of Conduct, “it is the responsibility of each player to call all balls that land on or are aimed at (his) side of the net” and that a player may not kick the ball “unless the player clearly sees the distance between the spot The ball and the line.”
Everyone learns this principle from the moment they start playing tennis in an organized manner. Since it would be impractical for referees to monitor every junior, high school or even college game, the game is built on honesty, trust and sportsmanship.
But as players work their way up the ranks and the stakes get higher, questionable behavior inevitably becomes more common. Throughout college tennis, even for those who love and work at it, cheating is seen as a real problem.
“We’re the only sport, or one of the very few sports, that makes our own decisions,” Kentucky coach Cedric Kaufman said. “Imagine if NBA players made their own calls. It would be chaos.
“I don’t think people go and say, ‘I want to cheat or win by cheating.’ I don’t think it happens like this with 99.9% of players. It’s such a tough environment that they see the ball out of play because they want it so badly.
Everyone involved in this sport accepts that mistakes can occur when players make these spur-of-the-moment decisions. Balls collide or miss the lines by centimetres, often move at a high rate of speed, and sometimes our eyes fool us. Sports are not played in slow motion.
But college tennis faces a real problem, and over the years certain rules have been modified to address cheating.
One example of this is removing a “drop,” which occurs when a serve reaches the top of the net before it bounces. According to standard rules, this point does not count and the server will essentially resubmit. But in college, players would often call incorrectly if they got an edge or missed a return. Now, the returner must play the ball regardless of whether it is allowed or not.
Another example is the increase in the number of paid referees with the power to overrule calls, which is now a relatively common phenomenon across the Five Powers. However, according to coaches, the quality of these officials is inconsistent at best, and they are often wary of overruling rules because they do not always have a good point of view.
“It’s sad that this was necessary,” TCU coach David Roditi said. “I think the quality of chair referees has improved and they are paying more attention, but it is difficult for them to see all of that.”
Currently, there are only two deterrents. The first is the possibility that someone might take a clip of a bad call and blow it up on social media, which happens fairly regularly during the season. But Manny Diaz, the Georgia coach who has won 29 SEC championships and four national titles, said coaches have to step in and overturn a bad decision if necessary.
“It’s really ugly,” Diaz said. “It comes down to the core of the type of program we want to have. Every individual coach needs to establish a baseline of what is and shouldn’t be allowed in each program. If I see one of our players and I think they’ve clearly missed a call, I’ll step in and try to correct it.”
Another treatment, which is probably used more frequently, is what is called “rehooking.” In other words, if a player strongly believes they have been cheated, they will make a blatantly poor decision to regain the point they lost. But this distorts the sport even more.
The hope is that college tennis will eventually put that ugly side of itself in the past through advances in linear contact technology, similar to what is used in many tournaments on the ATP Tour and WTA. Currently, the product is too expensive to be widely used, but coaches believe it will eventually become a standard at the NCAA level.
Until then, controversies over cheating remain part of the fabric of the sport.
“People send me videos of this stuff, and I send it to the NCAA, I send it to the ITA when the coach sits there and claps in front of the player who intentionally makes a comment,” Gilbert said. “For me, the coach should be suspended immediately so he sends the message that this is not acceptable. Tennis is a really great sport, it teaches you a lot of values, but there are some ridiculous cheaters and some of them are serial cheaters from the same programs. It can’t happen.”
Follow Dan Wolken on social media @dannobut
As college tennis gains more visibility and popularity, it has reignited the ongoing debate about cheating within the sport. With the stakes high and the pressure to succeed even higher, players and coaches are constantly faced with the temptation to bend or break the rules in order to gain a competitive advantage. This debate raises important questions about the integrity of the game and the ethical standards that should be upheld by its participants. The issue of cheating in college tennis is a complex one, and it requires a thoughtful and thorough examination in order to address the underlying causes and potential solutions.