The worst antics of bad tennis boys

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Holger Rune against Jannik Sinner and Alexander Zverev against Daniil Medvedev – fans of the tennis bad boys once again got their money’s worth at the ATP tournament in Monte Carlo. The tradition of dropouts on and off the field goes way back, as this list of the biggest bad guys proves.

He may not have been the worst, but he was the most famous bad boy. His exclamation “You can’t be serious” at Wimbledon in 1981 has become legendary outside of tennis. “Big Mac” also let the referees know his opinion. “If I played as badly as your umpire, I’d be number 5,000 in the world,” McEnroe once said. The mostly verbal outbursts did not detract from his success. After his career with seven Grand Slam titles, the eloquent American started as a TV pundit.

The Australian is something of today’s McEnroe. Kyrgios competes against everyone: referees, fans, opponents. “Kokkinakis laid your girlfriend, I’m sorry to tell you my friend,” he told Montreal’s Stan Wawrinka in 2015. Kyrgios also likes to fly rackets, water bottles or a folding chair over the court. “I’m just not the most professional player,” he told Rafael Nadal after Wimbledon in 2019. He was spotted in a pub the night before.

The Romanian was not only the first number 1 in the world ranking, he was also one of the first bad boys. Nastase became particularly hot when he met Hans-Jürgen Pohmann. At the 1976 US Open, he called the defeated German “Adolf” and later shouted “F*** you, Hitler, f*** you” after him. Also out of court, ‘Mr. Nasty” not a child of sorrow. “Sex was like a shower back then. You took one, it felt right, and then you forgot,” he says in his biography. The number of his alleged sex partners – 2500 – is not quite correct.

When he advanced to the semifinals of the 1991 US Open at the age of 39, Connors was the crowd’s darling. Before that, his rivalry with compatriot McEnroe thrilled American tennis fans. Connors not only made headlines with freaks and discussions, but also with women’s stories: the dream wedding with Chris Evert was called off in 1974. Instead, he married ex-playmate Patti McGuire in 1979. His 109 tournament victories are still a record.

According to ATP statistics, the Russian destroyed 1055 rackets in his 12-year career. The fact that Safin “only” managed to win two Grand Slams during this period (US Open 2000, Australian Open 2005) is also due to his escapades. In 2002 favorite Safin lost the Melbourne final to Thomas Johansson. He would have celebrated his birthday a little violently the night before. Three of his companions were in his box during the final. “I’m a man who doesn’t fit any pattern. And tennis could never be my whole life.” One could not describe him more aptly than Safin himself.

For a long time, the Chilean was the only number 1 in the world without a Grand Slam title. In the late 1990s, he was feared for his fast legs and bad manners. “Move your fat ass,” he allegedly told Monica Seles at Wimbledon in 1997 to avoid waiting at the players’ buffet. Because of such episodes, the American “Sports Illustrated” called him “the most hated man in tennis.” Even after his career, Rios continued to blaspheme merrily. “The ATP is the biggest mess there is,” he said in 2020. According to Rios, the players’ union would have covered up Andre Agassi’s positive doping tests.

That the 19-year-old Dane of Italy’s “Gazzetta dello Sport” is already at the top of the list of biggest tennis bullies is probably related to last week’s Monaco semi-finals. Rune took on opponents and fans against Italo star Jannik Sinner and pushed himself to the finals. Stan Wawrinka also gained his experience with Rune. “Stop acting like a baby,” the Swiss advised him. Rune countered this year’s Indian Wells handshake: “Have you nothing to say to me this time?” He himself finds his behavior unproblematic: “As a teenager, Roger Federer was 40 times worse than me.”

“Daniil is one of the most unsportsmanlike players I know,” Alexander Zverev said of Medvedev in Monte Carlo. The Russian had previously thrown the Germans off course with all kinds of antics and still turned the round of 16 in his favor. Medvedev earned his image as a bad boy at a young age, for example with a middle finger to fans at the US Open. “Some players don’t understand why I’m like this. Sometimes I do bad things on the court, but you can’t distinguish between tennis life and normal life,” Medvedev told Eurosport.

Source : Blick