With his grand racquet slam, Marcos Baghdatis made us nostalgic
for racquet pulpers of times past. Here’s a top 10 of racquet smashers.
1. Marcos
Baghdatis. Down a break in the third set against Stan Wawrinka
on Wednesday night, the frustrated Baggy slumped in his courtside chair and
smashed four racquets in about 20 seconds, not even bothering to take the last
two out their protective (sniff!) plastic. The sunny Cypriot breaking
celebratory plates in a taverna we can see, but this was totally random.
2. Marat
Safin. The 2005 Australian Open champ now prides himself on
being the best-looking dude in the Russian Duma. He was formerly famous for
splintering his Head racquets - 48 smashed frames in 1999 the unofficial
record. Marat estimated he’d sent over 1000 racquets to the big tennis court in
the sky. But the charismatic Russian did it with class. ‘Today I smash
racquets, for tomorrow we die,’ he mused.
3. Goran
Ivanisevic. The endearingly loopy Croat made history as the
only player to be defaulted from a tournament due to ‘lack of equipment’. At
the Samsung Open in Brighton, UK, in late 2000, Goran had binned all his
racquets by the middle of the third set, and his opponent refused to lend him a
stick. ‘Mr Ivanisevic cannot continue because of lack of appropriate
equipment,’ announced the umpire. Goran packed enough racquets to win Wimbledon
months later.
4. John
McEnroe. The volcanic Supermac practically invented racquet
abuse. And ball abuse. And professional umpiring. Against Swede Mikael Pernfors
at Australian Open 1990, McEnroe hurled his racquet to the court, then argued
he shouldn’t have been penalised a point as the stick was cracked, not broken
(he’d already received a warning for intimidating a linesperson) The referee
and supervisor were called to the court, McEnroe failed to persuade them and
then verbally abused the officials as they left the arena. Seconds later he was
sensationally defaulted for the first time in his Grand Slam career.
5. Novak
Djokovic. Charlie Sheen had nothing on ‘winning’ in 2011
compared to Djokovic. But even the dominant new No.1 lost it at his racquet at
Wimbledon in a third-round dog-fight against Baghdatis. On the soft turf, three
whacks were required for the break. Novak usually goes the double-whack, as
demonstrated in the 2010 US Open final and several other tournament sites.
6. Andy
Roddick. The skill with which the A-Rod busted his racquet en
route to a loss against No.160 Flavio Cipolla at Madrid last May, and an
earlier 2007 effort in Memphis show plenty of experience in the caper.
7. Fernando
Gonzalez. The 2007 Australian Open finalist with the ballistic
forehand destroyed racquets at Rome and Indian Wells in 2009. But when Gonzo
trashed his equipment during a 2010 loss to Andy Roddick in Rod Laver Arena, a
lucky fan scored a souvenir.
8. Vera
Zvonareva. The Muscovite went into a famous meltdown during a
6-0 6-3 final loss to Sam Stosur at Charleston in 2010. Her racquet was
hurled to the green clay and broken, then tossed and finally kicked under her
courtside chair.
9. Roger
Federer. A smashed Federer racquet is the tennis equivalent of
a unicorn sighting. But the model sportsman was a fiery junior who sent many a
racquet spinning like a helicopter - mostly on the practice court. And as
recently as 2009, a packed stadium in Miami went into shock when the Swiss
maestro mangled his Wilson during a semifinal with Novak Djokovic. Federer lost
6-3 in the third. Whoever salvaged the racquet has a priceless treasure.
10. Mikhail
Youzhny. At Miami in 2008, Youzhny was in a heated fight with
Nicolas Almagro when he decided to give his racquet three whacks - against his head.
Amazingly, his bonce came off worse; a trainer was required to stem a trickle
of blood and apply bandages. The insanity may have knocked some sense into him;
Youzhny won in a third-set tiebreak.
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