Murray says tennis should follow rugby’s lead in the way players treat officials

Andy Murray said players must be more careful about how they treat officials as “lines have probably been crossed” in recent years, and pointed to rugby as an example of how to interact with them respectfully.

The former world number one was speaking at Indian Wells where he is set to meet Andrey Rublev, who was defaulted in Dubai last week after an official said he used an obscenity towards a line judge.

The Russian denied the accusation and later successfully appealed the decision.

“All of us players – and I think I’ve been guilty of it myself – we need to be a little bit careful of the way that we speak to and treat officials,” Murray said.

“I understand in the heat of battle and stuff, sometimes things happen. But for the last four or five years, there has been a number of instances where lines have probably been crossed and maybe not enough has been done about it.”

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The ATP had warned of stricter punishments for on-court misconduct in 2022 after Alexander Zverev was thrown out of an event in Acapulco for smashing his racket against the umpire’s chair and a series of angry outbursts by Nick Kyrgios.

“We all probably need to have a bit of a look at ourselves and go, ‘Is this really the way that we want to be dealing with officials, with bad line calls and things?’ Murray added.

“Rugby is a great example for how to deal with officials. Everything is dealt with respectfully. We probably could do a better job with it in tennis as well.”