Etiquette -- 1 day ago
, It would appear that there is no end of physical and mental preparation that can prevent even the most elite sportsmen and women flinging their toys out of the pram from time to time. And the tennis pros are surely the hottest sparks of this fiery cauldron. We aren’t talking about McEnroe-esque hissy fits, but full-bore, smoke-screened by irrational rage paroxysms; when breaking one racket simply won’t do justice to the wrath, and where extreme profanities fly as fast and direct as Roddick’s serve.
With only a few days remaining before we bounce into Wimbledon, we look at the top 5 tennis tantrums to have exploded on court.
DAVID NALBANDIAN, 2012 AEGON CHAMPIONSHIPS,
Playing in front of a 6,000-capacity crowd against Marin Cilic, Nalbandian, after a string of dire shots, loses his cool – despite being a set up at the time. Employing his best Steven Gerrard imitation, he thwacked the advertising board at the foot of a line judge, shredding the officials shin and resulting in immediate disqualification.
MIKHAIL YOUZENHY, 2008 SONY ERICSSON OPEN,
Not one to shy away from the occasional outburst, the Russian player got into a fight with his own racket at the 2008 Sony Ericsson Open after losing an arduous rally to Nicolas Almagro. Seeing psychotic red, Youzenhy preceded to smash his racket into his head, before having to excuse himself for an early chair break as blood poured profusely from his face.
SERENA WILLIAMS, 2011 US OPEN,
Usually the epitome of composure and the model world champion, Serena launched a foul-mouthed tirade towards a line judge during the 2011 US Open semifinal when foot-faulted late in the second set as she was starring down the barrel of defeat to Kim Clijsters. “I swear to God,” the World No. 1 threatened, “I’m ******* going to take this ******* ball and shove it down your ******* throat, you hear that?”
XAVIER MALISSE, 2005 NASDAQ-100 OPEN,
This was a biggie – a real naughty step incident. While leading David Ferrer 6-3 5-5, Malisse was foot-faulted twice resulting in an eruption of epic proportions. The stark raving mad Belgian threw a ball at the line judge, verbally abused an official, kicked over a chair and smashed his racket on a fence. He was stripped of his prize money, fined an additional £3,150 and banned for four weeks.
MARCOS BAGHDATIS, 2012 AUSTRALIAN OPEN,
During his second round match against Stanislas Wawrinka, Baghdatis chose to vent his frustration on not just one racket, but four, ensuring that each was sufficiently mangled before moving on to his next inanimate victim. Unsurprisingly, he lost.
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