Eight hottest scandals and disruptions in tennis matches

Tennis is often referred to as an elite sport and even an aristocratic sport. But in a tense struggle, tennis players sometimes allow themselves something that no one expects of them. These are the hottest scandals and disruptions on tennis courts that we have seen in recent years.

Juan Ignacio Chela. Spit in Hewitt

Lleyton Hewitt from the very beginning of his career was too active in celebrating successful draws, and his “C’mon” with a characteristic gesture has already become the trademark of the Australian. But not all of these celebrations were to their liking. At the Australian Open, Juan Ignacio Chela could not restrain himself and, after an unsuccessful match on his serve, accompanied by the screams of an incited opponent, spat in the direction of Hewitt, who was sitting on the bench. The Australian won that game, but Chela took revenge on him precisely one year later, beating Lleyton in Melbourne.

Flavia Pennett. Middle finger to judge

Enraged by the unfair refereeing in the Fed Cup match with France, Flavia Pennetta showed the umpire the entire palette of Italian sign language. However, the most offensive was the universal middle finger – according to Moresmo, the Italian should have been disqualified for such unsporting behaviour. Amelie’s offence is understandable – she was on the ball from victory.

Tomas Berdych. Only shhh!

In the already distant 2006, Tomas Berdych won his third game in a row over the same young Rafael Nadal. It happened in Madrid, and the whole stadium was rooting for the Spaniard. After the victory, Tomas put his finger to his lips, hinting that the Spaniards need to be quieter. 

Rafa told the Czech at the net that this should not be done. And Nadal was right – the audience booed Tomas not only that day but also hounded him throughout the match with Gonzalez the next. Rafa also did not remain in debt – this was Berdykh’s last victory over Nadal: the Spaniard won the next 12 games in a row.

Nadia Petrova. In your face

The game in doubles is fast, and opponents often fight at the net, so there are often cases when players accidentally hit the opponents with the ball. Nadya Petrova did not escape this either, hitting a ball exactly in the face of Liesel Huber, who fell onto the court, sobbing in pain. Nadia hardly did it on purpose, so when she approached to apologize and came across aggression from her “victim”, the Russian woman was shocked.

Robin Soderling. Portraying Nadal

Soderling’s “love” with Nadal began not with the Roland Garros lost to Rafa, but much earlier. The match between the Swede and the Spaniard at Wimbledon in 2007 was very tense – Robin was able to recoup from the score 0: 2 in sets and equalized the score. Before serving Nadal at the start of the fifth game, the Swede decided to change the racket, which Rafa did not like. He remembered that he had not announced that he was serving with new balls. The phrase “new balls” from Rafa, to which the audience responded with laughter, pissed off Soderling and he also decided to collect a portion of applause, depicting Raphael’s famous gesture with shorts.

Since then, Soderling has firmly entrenched in the first place of the players whom Nadal does not like – in one interview, answering the question with whom Rafa would not play in a pair, he did not hesitate to give the name of the Swede.

Nobody likes Paes

Leander Paes, one of the most successful doubles players to date, has won many titles, but not the love of his colleagues. He had problems with other Indian tennis players who did not want to play with him at the Olympics; he even managed to anger John McEnroe during an exhibition match. 

Paes is widely known for his tough and often rough play, to which his fellow fellows are already used to. But for Feliciano Lopez and Juan Monaco, this behaviour was new, so Paes managed to easily piss Pico and Feli out of himself so that at the end of the match at the Australian Open it almost came to a scuffle.

Rafael Nadal. I don’t play with you

At one of the most successful final tournaments for Rafa in London in 2010, he also had the most heated argument with the referee. He first declared an out himself, and then awarded a point to Berdych when the Czech took a video replay – according to referee Bernardes, Nadal raised his hand earlier than the cry “out” sounded. At a speed of a thousand words per minute in Spanish, Rafa proved that this was wrong, after which he completely announced that he did not want to play. But, fortunately, the Spaniard quickly changed his anger to mercy and continued the game.

Tomic against Tomic

Few people say something good about Bernard Tomich’s father – because of him, the young Australian has more than once got into awkward situations. It is not so easy for Bernard himself to endure his beloved dad even from a distance. At the tournament in Miami, Tomich Jr. asked the judge to remove Tomich Sr. from the stands, because he was interfering with him. It’s rare to hear a “thank you” from a player after a coaching warning.