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Sports & Recreation > Tennis > Marcos Baghdatis Goes Bananas
 

Marcos Baghdatis Goes Bananas


This is what happen when you lose a match.

RNE, Australia (AP)—Serena Williams was impressed. Jo-Wilfried Tsonga was surprised. Novak Djokovic just couldn’t wait to join the hundreds of thousands of people to have viewed online footage of Marcos Baghdatis spectacular bout of racket rage.

Baghdatis lost a last-night match Wednesday at the Australian Open, but he was still the talk of Melbourne Park a day later.

Down two sets and a break, Baghdatis sat in his chair at the changeover and whacked his racket on the court seven times until it was almost unrecognizable. That wasn’t so unusual.

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But after Baghdatis calmly gave the mangled racket to a ballboy, he plucked a new one out of his bag and cracked that as well. The next two, he didn’t even bother taking out of the plastic wrapping before smashing them into the court.

In all, the fiery Cypriot broke four rackets during a meltdown that lasted less than a minute and earned him a $1,250 fine—or just over $300 per racket.

“I’ve never done that. That’s impressive. Wow,” Williams said Thursday. “I actually used to break a lot of rackets on the court. I sometimes break them in practice, just not in a match anymore.”

His frustration released, Baghdatis recovered to win the third set but lost the match 7-6 (3), 6-4, 5-7, 6-1 to Stanislas Wawrinka.

Nearly 24 hours later, YouTube footage of the racket smashing episode had been viewed more than 350,000 times—and it was still rising.

“I hope he gets a share of the YouTube clips,” said former Aussie Open champion Jim Courier, who working as an analyst during the tournament for Australian television. “It was such a raw moment.”

Djokovic hadn’t yet had a chance to see the footage before his match, but the mention of racket smashing had him reminiscing about the game’s most famous exponents.

“I think (Goran) Ivanisevic and (Marat) Safin are right up there,” the No. 1-ranked Serb said. “Loved watching them.”

Baghdatis, who could have been fined up to $2000 for his outburst, joined a list of players who have also been penalized for breaking their rackets at the tournament, including John Isner, Alexandr Dolgopolov and Denis Istomin.

Donald Young, Juan Carlos Ferrero and Gilles Simon have been given $1,500 fines for audible obscenities.

Tsonga, like most players who were asked about it on Thursday, sympathized with Baghdatis’ need to vent his frustrations—but the Frenchman was still taken aback by the scale of the tantrum.

“Four, it’s a lot,” said Tsonga, a former Australian Open finalist. “My father told me all the time, ‘If you break the racket, I break you.”’

Baghdatis wasn’t alone in losing his cool on Wednesday.

After losing the fourth set of his marathon match against Isner, David Nalbandian threw his racket into a wall at Margaret Court Arena and was lucky it didn’t rebound and hit a nearby linesperson.

A ballboy picked up the racket and gave it back, only for the unhappy Argentine to fling it into the crowd.

That wasn’t the end of it, either. Nalbandian also angrily smashed his racket after netting a volley on match point. At the press conference, criticized chair umpire Kader Nouni, who refused his request for a video challenge at break point at 8-8 in the fifth set because he said Nalbandian waited too long to ask.

“I mean, can you be that stupid to do that in that moment?” Nalbandian said.

Nalbandian and Baghdatis still have some way to go before they can match Safin and Ivanisevic for racket-smashing prowess.

Ivanisevic had to default from a tournament in England in 2000 when he mangled three rackets—and then realized he had none left.

Safin, the 2005 Australian Open champion, once estimated he had destroyed about 700 rackets in his 12-year career. He recently won a seat in Russia’s lower house of Parliament.

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posted on Jan 19, 2012 11:08 AM ()

Comments:

Whatever happened to sportsmanship and staying cool?
comment by elderjane on Jan 20, 2012 9:29 AM ()
well this is very typical in the tennis field.Hockey just as worse.They have to get the frustration out.
reply by fredo on Jan 20, 2012 9:50 AM ()
That's why I prefer golf, the gentleman's game! For the record, I've only broken one club in 55 yrs of golf. I was only 16. The tree was stronger than the club!
comment by solitaire on Jan 20, 2012 6:17 AM ()
A gentleman game.
reply by fredo on Jan 20, 2012 9:51 AM ()
I could really use the money that those rackets cost!
comment by dragonflyby on Jan 19, 2012 5:37 PM ()
Poor role model for the kiddies.
comment by troutbend on Jan 19, 2012 5:16 PM ()
Hey, video is not available!!!
comment by greatmartin on Jan 19, 2012 3:33 PM ()
I went to youtube and copy another one and paste it on my blog.Let see how long this will last.
reply by fredo on Jan 19, 2012 3:50 PM ()
they took it off.Oh!well it was short lived.Guess he or they found a way to stop this.
It was not very good for the Tennis Association/I will have to pay a visit to youtube to see what is going on.
reply by fredo on Jan 19, 2012 3:46 PM ()
Such a violent sport--it should be banned!!!!
comment by greatmartin on Jan 19, 2012 2:20 PM ()
not the sport.Him should be banned he is the one that is violent.
reply by fredo on Jan 19, 2012 2:31 PM ()
$1250 doesn't seem like much of a fine for that kind of irresponsible behavior.
comment by redimpala on Jan 19, 2012 1:28 PM ()
He should have been fined more...But he is not the only that has temper.
McEnroe had a lot of violent temper in his hey day.Serena had her etc.
if they are violent in this sort of way and not sure how they cope with life.
This is scary to be this way and they should get some or attending anger management class.
I am not surprised that this had not been done to some.Not only him there are more as is stated in this story.We win some and lose some.This is a way of life in sport.Too hot to handle then get out of it.Get married and have kids.
reply by fredo on Jan 19, 2012 1:37 PM ()
Very infantile. Talent and emotional maturity don't always go together. Obviously he's had his way all his life and doesn't know how to handle adversity. This article makes it seem like this is a way to be on the tennis circuit. Much of nitwits.
comment by tealstar on Jan 19, 2012 1:00 PM ()
pretty closed to the truth.Same as in any sport.Look at hockey they have scuffle and they all looked after so many minutes they will stopped it.Every sport has its mayhem.
Guess they are spoiled to a degree.
reply by fredo on Jan 19, 2012 1:39 PM ()
Boo! I take a dim view of such behavior, Fredo.
If I had acted that way when I was playing national amateur golf tournaments, I'd have been disqualified and thrown off the golf course. I think the fines levied in tennis are mere wrist slaps and therefore meaningless.
comment by marta on Jan 19, 2012 11:20 AM ()
Yes,many of the players smash racquet etc.or throw them around.
He started of great and got many endorsement and lately he has been having his share of misfortune.I liked him,but not this way.Do not like his temper and could be dangerous.
reply by fredo on Jan 19, 2012 11:25 AM ()

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