Foot Fault: Yes Or No? Confusion During Djokovic vs Medvedev | Dubai 2023

How could Novak (the most experienced player of all the men) AND the experienced commentator BOTH not know the very simple rule?! I'm astonished. Novak has played 1000 pro matches in 20 years, yet he hasn't learned this rule that should be understood the very first day of his first junior match? And the commentator is paid to know the simple rules. Guys, it's a simple concept that a footfault CANNOT occur until the ball is struck!

So it's not just stepping on the line at the point of ball contact? Even during the service motion, that's not allowed?

His foot didn’t even touch the line.

i was the net ballkid on the right side lol

At the time of striking the ball his foot is in air and hence not touching any line, Is it really a foot fault though he touches line during motion ... but not when he actually meets the ball with racket

Djok wanted a 2nd serve

For Novak it takes 3 turns to understand the assignment

DJOKER ALWAYS THE PARTY POOPER AND A SCUMBAG

It's a non issue,the rule is clear. foot faults can only be called after contact during the service motion.

It is foot fault because Med is crossing the imaginary extension line of the center mark during the service motion.

Still Medvedev win.....Djoker lost the game!

shut up novak

The broadcasters for tennis drive me nuts the way they say they're on Djokovic's side because if you step over the line it's a foot fault.

It's simple, It is NOT foot fault until the ball is struck. This is basic stuff. If you make a foot fault call while the player is in their motion, it is official interference and the point is replayed. This means that even if this were a second serve, the player would get a first serve due to the interference by an official during their service motion.

ATP RULEBOOK 2022 Section VII. G:

"Early Foot Fault Call

Case: The baseline umpire calls a foot fault on the server prior to
him hitting a first serve. The server continues with his motion and
hits the serve into the net.

Decision: First serve awarded. It is not a foot fault until the ball has
been struck. Therefore, the call is erroneous and the Line Umpire
has hindered the server."

The umpire was completely correct. FIRST SERVE.

I have a hard time believing a player can put his foot over the line right before contact and magically take his foot back at contact. Dont tell me he could have caught the ball. No one in the history of the sport has ever had the mental clarity to catch a ball before contact in order to avoid a foot fault. That’s not why you catch a ball. Ever. Ridiculous. 99.999999% of the time, if a player’s foot is over the line right before he hits the ball, that foot will still be over the line at contact…unless that player is struck by lightning of course.

His foot doesn't touch the line

Djokovic was correct and the ump was wrong. It doesn't have to be after contact with the ball is made - as long as the serving motion has started, the call can be made:
"A foot fault occurs when a server's foot touches any part of the baseline, or the imaginary extension of the center mark. For a foot fault to be called, any part of the server's foot must touch any part of the baseline during the serving motion. This is according to Rule 18 of the official 'Rules of the Game."

Players at the pro level do this all the time and it doesn't get called. Glad to see it being enforced

Similar trick to Marin Cilic’s serves. Fits in the rules, props to both him and Daniil.

Djokovic argued a little just because he was a set and a break down otherwise he would have not even bothered with this 😂

A foot fault is a foot fault until 1) The racquet hits the ball and 2) The foot is over the line. Not sure about 2), but 1) was not happening when the shout came, so umpire is 100% right on

Medvedev suffered an incorrect decision. He successfully reversed that decision to get awarded a let. Then it was surely time for Medvedev to stand back until his opponent is ready to receive serve. He was wrong to intervene when Djokovic complained, and that was unnecessarily provocative. It's the umpire's job to respond to Djokovic's complaint, not Medvedev's.

The crowd is so ignorant. 99% of them have not idea how to play tennis. When I'm at the us open and I listen to the crowd comments I want to lough so hard. The crow is absolutely clueless

It’s a valid foot fault but should’ve been called after he hit the ball. The point doesn’t start until the server hits the ball and the server can abandon a serve (for an incorrect ball toss for example) without losing their first serve. In short, it was a foot fault but the lines person should’ve waited for meddy to hit the ball. Well done umpire.

The fair play thing to do for Medvedev would have been to accept the foot fault. It was one and he knows it, not cause by the hindrance. But that was not an important point anyway

After watching the video and reading comments I still am confused what a foot fault actually is

It’s not like her voice stopped him from discontinuing his serve. When he went ahead and served it anyway, that proves that he was going to hit the serve regardless.

If foot fault is called too early, that could be unfair because, like many players do, he could’ve just caught his ball toss and not served it. But in this case, it’s not like her voice stopped him from discontinuing his serve. When he went ahead and served it anyway, that proves that he was going to hit the serve regardless.

I am not a Djokovic fan by any stretch. However, I do think that once the service motion begins even before the racquet connects with the ball, the play has begun. So, a foot fault call before the ball is hit but the service motion is live, it is a foot fault. If a server swings and misses the ball, it is a FAULT, not a let or a take-over. And the ball wasn't hit. So, logic dictates that it is the service motion, not the contact with the ball that determines the game has started.

What the heck is the commentator saying? 🙈 I can't believe him. Educate yourself about tennis or find another job haha. Maybe I'm being a bit harsh.

The rule is: Start a fight against the referee Whenever you don't know the rules.

i get that the linesperson made a mistake but i still think at the end of the day it was a foot fault because med completed the serve

ジョコビッチうぜぇえええええええええええええええええええええええええええぇぇぇぇぇぇぇ

I can’t see from the angle it’s being shown from here, but was the foot fault for crossing the center line with his back foot?

Is there another angle for this footage?

Haha! I love the way Medvedev explains his serve action to Djoker!

Typical Djokovic complaining. Get back on your spot and try to win the game. He only started playing worse after this.

One more reason why Novak can not be tallied alongside Roger and Rafa.. no matter how many grand slams he may win.. in this case, using the situation to buy some time and disturb the opponents momentum when Meddy is a set and a break up.

For all the people who are confused. There are two things at play here.
1)When is it decided that you make a foot fault,
and
2)when is it called out.

1) Foot fault is decided before you hit the ball. If you are touching the line, right before your feet leave the ground, it's a foot fault.
(If it was decided after, then you could literally go inside the court, jump and hit the ball in the air and no foot fault would be called. Because technically when you hit the ball your feet weren't touching the the ground.)

2)A foot fault is called after you hit the ball.
( If the foot fault was called before you hit the ball/ during your service motion then a player couldn't retake the service if he changed his mind and just didn't hit the ball because of a bad throw or strong winds, like players do sometimes)

Medvedev took advantage of a premature call on the foot fault (before he hit the ball) to retake his first service. I can't tell if he did, but whether he did commit foot fault or not was irrelevant in this situation. So, Medvedev is technically right and the commentators are wrong here.

Footfault call came before he even hit the ball!

Title of the video is not fair. The empire was not confused at all. Players were, especially Djokovic. Perfectly ruled.

Djokovic is a great player but this is why he doesn’t have the same reverence as Federer or Nadal. When he’s down, there are levels to his awfulness

I understand both sides here… call technically came to early cuz medvedev technically hadn’t broken the rules yet since he had yet to make contact with the ball at the time of the call… on the contrary, medvedev was obviously going to foot fault regardless so it’s kinda unfair for djokovic that medvedev gets another chance just cuz the line judge messed up the timing… but technically by rule I think the umpire made correct call

Bunch of NPCs in literally every tennis crowd. Always boo players for absolutely no reason when they talk with umpire.

Rules in Tennis are just kind of weird. People said it's the same as calling a ball out before it touched the ground which is funny because this is even a thing when a ball is clearly going out but if you call it out right before it touches when it is clearly going out you've made a mistake.

Same case here, the fault was called a split second before his racket touched the ball and because of this the foot fault is called away even though Medvedev made a foot fault and was clearly completing the serve.

There's just never logic used when it comes to Tennis and their rule usage.

Sum up for everyone:

--Yes, it was a foot fault (back foot across the center line at start of service motion)
--However, it was not assessed because the linesman called it too early, before Med had struck the ball
--The call therefore became a hindrance instead of a good call, thus the chair awarded first serve
--The players and chair behaved just fine, it was a brief chat well within their rights and the chair was firm and friendly
--The commentators were dumb, no need to take a position if they don't know the rules
--Crowd is dumb for booing/whistling every time a player approaches the chair

No

Un peu de respect pour les juges svp. Il y avait faute.

작년 푸틴만 아니었음 모든대회 메뎁의 대회였을수있었음

To understand how footfault works, just watch any moment with this case on court with hawkeye live. You will see that call is happens AFTER hitting the ball.

I guess electronic system knows better, because it works on ATP rules. So Medvedev is right

If the Player is already Touching the line before even Touching the ball ? It would then be a footfall due to Foot already inside the line and Ball is touched after Touching the line ...
In most cases you go Forward not backward.