As Novak Djokovic prepares for his Wimbledon title defense this Monday, he as well as his coach Boris Becker will be monitored closely.
This comes after Djokovic's coach, Becker, revealed how both communicated with the use of "special signals."
Djokovic finds himself in a little fix after his coach revealed that both were using special signals/ coded messages during matches. An ATP ruling forbids any kind of communication (audible or visible) between a player and his coach.
"I mean, there are special ways of, I would say, communication. The way you look at each other, the way you 'feel' your box, and box 'feels' what you're going through on the court. I think that's something that just gives you that reassurance, gives you that confidence," says Djokovic via CNN.
Djokovic did point out, however, that the practice is nothing new and is actually common among professionals. As far as he and Becker are concerned, they do it through glances which is something that Djokovic believes is not breaking the rules.
On the said glancing, Djokovic terms it as something more of support and reassurance rather than telling the other what to do.
"But it's more of an encouragement and more of a support and reassurance. I think it's all fine as long as it's not regular. Also that's up to the chair umpire or supervisor to decide if somebody's breaking the rules or not," says Djokovic at the press conference.
If there is indeed a form of cheating, the alleged glancing seems to be far from being one. If such was indeed against the rules and violates the said ATP rule on player-coach communication, then Djokovic does have a point on leaving that task up to the game officials.
As he pointed out, it would not be surprising to find if other players would be doing the same.
So is glancing or establishing eye-contact a form of coaching or encouragement? Of the two, it seems more of the latter unless both (coach and player) have established a long line of gestures and/or movements that pertain to a certain tactic which seems highly improbable.
If rules are broken, such should be left at the hands of the umpire or supervisor. If nothing is heard of, then it is practically saying that there is nothing illegal going on.
All that cheating controversy aside, Djokovic tried to rebound from a disappointing loss at the French Open at the hands of Stanislas Warinka.
Djokovic shows just that when he faces German Philipp Kohlschreiber in the first match at centre court Monday in the 2015 edition of Wimbledon Lawn Tennis Championships.