A tennis starlet had her Wimbledon dreams cut short on Saturday as she was disqualified from a match.Wimbledon is in full swing and while tennis’s greatest stars compete for one of the sport’s most-coveted prizes, potential future greats are playing in the Wimbledon Juniors tournament.However, 15-year-old Ida Wobker won’t be claiming any silverware this year as she received a default for an unfortunate mistake on the court.The German was taking on Maria Valentina Pop, of Romania, on July 4 and aiming to get back into the first-round match after losing the first set 6-0.However, when she hit a return long and out of bounds to drop a point, she couldn’t help but let her frustrations get the better of her.The 24th-ranked ITF Junior smashed her racquet on the ground but, crucially, let go of the handle while doing so.
It bounced off the grass and flew into the stands where spectators were watching the action.Not the grand slam you’re after.he match was immediately put on hold by the chair umpire, who discussed the incident with a supervisor for several minutes.After their deliberation, they decided to disqualify Wobker and call it ‘game set and match.’While no one was hurt in the incident, Wimbledon’s Referees’ Office confirmed to The Athletic the default was given as the racquet made contact with a person in the stands.There is not a definite rule that states a player can be defaulted by throwing a racquet or even a tennis ball in rage, but if the safety of staff, players or spectators comes into question, it can lead to the most severe punishment.Legendary Novak Djokovic suffered the same fate in the 2020 US Open when he accidentally hit a line judge in the throat with a ball he hit behind him.Reacting to the incident on Instagram, Wobker reposted a message from her mentor, Barbara Rittner, which read: “(Poop emoji) happens (female shrug emoji) you learn from it!”Rules at Wimbledon have been a major talking point since the tournament began earlier this week, though not ones to do with the game itself.
