"If you hit someone, it’s over": Boris Becker and Andrea Petkovic call for clear rules amid Sabalenka racquet incident in Wuhan

Boris Becker and Andrea Petkovic have called for consistent officiating in tennis following Aryna Sabalenka’s controversial racket-throw incident during her semifinal defeat to Jessica Pegula in Wuhan.

The world No. 2 threw her racket toward the umpire’s chair after losing a point, with replays appearing to show it struck a ball kid. Speaking on their podcast, both Becker and Petkovic said that one rule should apply for all players, no matter their status.

A common theme nowadays is player outbursts from Rublev being disqualified and venting his anger albeit not for a while, to Novak Djokovic getting defaulted to Miyu Kato in the infamous Roland Garros doubles incident. The latest foray into this world came from Aryna Sabalenka who chucked her racquet in frustration and some footage showed it appeared to hit the ball boy in question.

“In her semifinal against Pegula, Sabalenka lost a point and threw her racket towards the umpire’s chair — it hit a ball kid. In black and white, that means disqualification. I only remember Novak Djokovic’s disqualification for something similar. Shouldn’t the same rule apply?” said Petkovic.

“Absolutely,” said Becker. “I didn’t see the incident myself, but if that’s what happened, the rule should be clear: if you hit someone, you’re out. When Novak was disqualified, it was the right decision — he hit someone and caused injury.

“There have been similar cases, like Davidovich Fokina, and even a doubles player at the French Open who accidentally hit a ball girl just passing the ball — and she was disqualified. There must be one rule for all. If you hit someone, whether it’s with a ball or racket, that should be it.”

Before addressing the Sabalenka incident in depth, Becker praised Pegula’s mental toughness during a remarkable stretch of tournaments in Asia, where she endured a string of marathon matches and heartbreaking near-misses. She lost in the final of Wuhan to Coco Gauff and throughout the whole swing had to endure playing constant three set matches.

Albeit of course her fault of sorts for not concluding the deal, it also showed incredible resilience and toughness. She also sealed her Riyadh spot through these runs so in reality won in the end in regards to future success.

“Jess Pegula has been the tragic heroine of these tournaments in Beijing and Wuhan,” said Becker. “Every match was three hours long, full of missed match points or set points. In Beijing she had five match points against Nosková — double faults, loses the tiebreak. Then in Wuhan, same thing against Sabalenka — two match points, another double fault! I thought, ‘No, this can’t be real — Hollywood would reject that script!’

“But she stayed calm, won the match in the tiebreak against Sabalenka — who hadn’t lost a single tiebreak all year. That was fantastic. No matter what happens in the final, I’m so proud of Jess. She’s shown emotion, fought through exhaustion, and handled it beautifully.” Sabalenka’s emotions fuel her, but can cross the line”

Petkovic acknowledged that Sabalenka’s fierce temperament is part of what makes her such a force, but said the key for the Belarusian is learning to control it without dulling her natural fire.

“She’s emotional in a different way,” said Petkovic. “When I interview her, she always says the first thing she needs to work on is controlling her emotions. I don’t think she needs to suppress them, just tame them. Emotion can give you an adrenaline rush, but if it spirals, performance suffers.”

Becker added that tennis needs clear, universally applied rules to avoid future controversy. "There should be a clear line,” said Becker. “If you hit someone, it’s over. Otherwise, these discussions will always come up. Same rules for everyone.”