A few years ago, my daughter was a ball girl for a Girls 18-and-Under tennis tournament.

Professional players can smack a racket and break it in two without penalty, but in Girls 18-and-Under competition, a racket hitting the ground results in a one point penalty.

In the championship match, a player named Abby held off a third consecutive match point and fought back to deuce. On the next point Abby netted an easy volley. Because of her unforced error, she faced another match point. Angry with her mistake, she made a gesture of frustration with her racket and the head of her racket grazed the ground. I’d seen worse racket-hitting behavior and none of the players had been penalized.

The umpire chose not to penalize Abby because it would’ve ended the championship match. Abby’s opponent, Carly, stepped up to the umpire and demanded he enforce the rule. The umpire looked at Carly with surprise as if to say this was no way to end the match.

I understood Carly wanted to win. But Abby’s racket head had barely hit the ground. Was it fair?

The umpire reminded Carly that if he called the penalty, the match would be over. They discussed it for a minute and Carly refused to back down. The umpire announced he had no choice and declared Carly the champion.

Here’s my question. If you were Carly what would you have done? Would you have forced the umpire to adhere to the letter of the law?

I think the umpire made a mistake and should have said, “I’m in charge. I say play on.”

Carly would have protested, but the umpire should have had the courage to do the right thing and let the championship be determined by winning a point on the court.