Marcos Baghdatis was fined for an extraordinary racket-smashing tantrum yesterday, but in a sport known for its meltdowns, fellow players greeted the outburst calmly.
Trailing by two sets to love in Wednesday’s second-round clash with Switzerland’s Stanislas Wawrinka, the Cypriot stunned spectators by breaking not one, not two, not three, but four rackets as he briefly lost the plot.
The 26-year-old did not even bother to take two of his rackets out of their plastic wrappers.
Photo: AFP
As footage of the tirade went viral, Baghdatis, beaten in four sets, was fined US$800 by the tournament referee yesterday for “abuse of rackets and equipment.”
Sporadic bad on-court behavior is nothing new in a sport that experienced the spectacular hissy-fits of US player John McEnroe, who became defined as much by his bad-boy antics as his tennis.
Five-time Australian Open winner Serena Williams escaped with a US$2,000 fine for an outburst at a chair umpire during last year’s US Open final — her second such incident at the event in two years.
Williams said yesterday that she used to be a racket-breaker, but realized now that there were better ways to let out frustrations.
Jo-Wilfried Tsonga said he could understand the depths of rage which drive players.
“But, anyway, my father told me all the time: ‘If you break the racket, I will break you.’ So I go easy with the racket,” he said.
Big-serving Canadian Milos Raonic says he does not have the luxury of being able to break rackets.
“I have 10 rackets. I need to play with 10 rackets. I don’t have any to break,” he said.
Shohei Ohtani and his wife arrived in South Korea with his Los Angeles Dodgers teammates yesterday ahead of their season-opening games with the San Diego Padres next week. Ohtani, wearing a black training suit and a cap backwards, was the first Dodgers player who showed up at the arrival gate of Incheon International Airport, west of Seoul. His wife, Mamiko Tanaka, walked several steps behind him. As a crowd of fans, many wearing Dodgers jerseys, shouted his name and cheered slogans, Ohtani briefly waved his hand, but did not say anything before he entered a limousine bus with his wife. Fans held placards
Taiwan’s Tai Tzu-ying yesterday advanced to the quarter-finals at the All England Open, beating Kim Ga-eun of South Korea 21-17, 21-15. With the win, Tai earned a semi-final against China’s He Bingjiao, who beat Michelle Li of Canada 21-9, 21-9. Defending champion An Se-young defeated India’s P.V. Sindhu 21-19, 21-11. An on Wednesday cruised into the second round, unlike last year’s men’s winner, Li Shifeng, who suffered a shock defeat. South Korea’s An, the world No. 1, overcame Taiwan’s Hsu Wen-chi 21-17, 21-16 to set up the match against Sindhu. In other women’s singles matches, Taiwan’s Sung Shuo-yun lost 21-18, 24-22 against Carolina Marin of
EYEING TOP SPOT: A victory in today’s final against Storm Hunter and Katerina Siniakova would return 38-year-old Hsieh Su-wei to the world No. 1 ranking Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei and Elise Mertens on Thursday secured a spot in the women’s doubles finals at the BNP Paribas Open after dispatching Nicole Melichar-Martinez of the US and Australia’s Ellen Perez 6-2, 7-6 (7/5) at Indian Wells. Hsieh and her Belgian partner Mertens, who won the Australian Open in late January, coasted through the first set after breaking their opponents’ serve twice, but found the going tougher in the second. Both pairs could only muster one break point over 12 games, neither of which were converted, leaving the set to be decided by a tiebreaker. Hsieh and Mertens took a 6-3 lead,
DOUBLES PAYBACK: Hsieh Su-wei and Elise Martens avenged their defeat in the quarters at the Qatar TotalEnergies Open against Demi Schuurs and Luisa Stefani Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei on Wednesday advanced to the semi-finals of the women’s doubles at the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells, California. Hsieh and partner Elise Mertens of Belgium dispatched Demi Schuurs and Luisa Stefani 6-1, 6-4 to set up a clash against Nicole Melichar-Martinez of the US and Australia’s Ellen Perez for a spot in the final of the WTA 1000 tournament. Hsieh and Martens made a blistering start to their rematch after they lost to Schuurs and Stefani in the quarter-finals at the Qatar TotalEnergies Open last month, winning three games without reply at the start of the first set