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2008-07-30 13:01:00
Some players never seem to improve their behavior on the court. You would think that 30-year old Arnaud Clement has been around for so many years that he would have understood that every ball boy in the world isn’t as well trained as the ones at Roland Garros. Every time things aren’t going the Frenchman’s way (which has been almost every match this year), he is attacking the ball boys. I’ve seen him stare at them like they are his worst enemy, scream at them loudly and even throw the towel in their face. The latter usually happens after he has lost an important point and the towel isn’t presented to Mr Clement the way it is done at Roland Garros with both arms stretched out wide. It is very unpleasant to see Clement treat the ball boys this way, but I’ve only seen one chair umpire ever talk to him about it.
Robin Soderling is another guy who is often very negative on the court. Even when he is winning, you can see Soderling shaking his head, making gestures and constantly looking at his coach. He’s had some controversies with opponents in the past, with the one against Nadal at Wimbledon 2007 clearly being the most famous one. Last week in Toronto, the 2nd round encounter against Fernando Verdasco turned out to be another match where the two guys left the court as enemies. Soderling won the first set and was a break up in the second set. As Verdasco came back and won the second set, the Spaniard celebrated vividly with his entourage screaming loudly. At this point, Soderling was extremely frustrated with his game and the celebration from the other side of the court was too much for him to take. In the third set, the Swede constantly screamed “Yes!” and held his fist up every time Verdasco missed an easy shot. Despite his mental break down, Soderling eventually won. Verdasco never shook Soderling’s hand and walked right to the umpire’s chair. A few moments later, the two players started to argue in a very hostile way as they left the court. That’s clearly not what you want to see as a tennis fan.
Arnaud Clement and Robin Soderling are just two examples of the players who would terrify the gentlemen who dominated the sport 100 years ago.
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Maybe the ball kid should put the towel on the floor for him to pick up! :)
tenstar , 8/1/08 3:38 PM
To Tenstar
Agree to Agree with you on that!!!!!!!!!
There should be a rule /violation for conduct unbecoming on court among these unkind players, particularly picking on ball boys. How about designating a space on both ends of the court w/ 2 sets of towels readily available for these
SON_ _ _ _ _ _'s. No need for the poor kiddies to be treated harshly!!!!
RAFBFF , 8/1/08 5:40 PM
BernieEliza, I couldn't agree more about Clement! Nadal's the French Open Champion, and I can't imagine him behaving like that. Federer either.
Safin does lose his temper with umpires and linesmen, but he seems to have quite a volatile personality. I'm sure he'd consider bullying kids to be beneath him though. I hope so anyway!
Soderling behaved very childishly towards Nadal , but IMO the only person he hurt was himself. Nadal was annoyed at the time but no doubt victory took the edge off!
tennisfan1276 , 8/8/08 11:50 AM
Clement has a poor reputation. He has treated ball kids like this for a long time.
elle , 9/1/08 5:54 PM
And McEnroe is still throwing tantrums. Take a look at the YouTube clip of his most recent outburst.
ed251137 , 9/1/08 9:27 PM
ed: is it a different tantrum or similar to others? If similar, I think many of us have seen most of them! :) I just got the dvd of McEnroe vs Borg 1980 & 81 playing at Wimb. I did a test run yesterday and randomly selected a segment. Guess what it was? Johnny throwing a fit on ct. I thought: Oh good, the dvd works!! :)
tenstar , 9/2/08 3:54 AM
Ed, FYI there's an ad on OZ TV where a McEnroe lookalike goes 'you cannot be serious' at the umpire and is finally pacified when he gets his chockie bar - was it Mars bar, Tenstar? really funny.
where did you get the DVD, tenstar? been wanting to buy some classic matches, looked on ebay and on the net and couldn't find anything decent.
sstay , 9/2/08 5:32 AM
sstay: think it was mars bar, or maybe snickers.. oh well. Will have to record it for ed and mail it to France!
I bot dvd at Wimb shop this year but you can order it online. I just ordered the 2008 annual of this year's wimb. They also have this year's men's final on dvd but quite sure it's not our region code but I have it on video. The Mc-Borg one is our region code, tho sometimes some dvd players can be funny. One dvd my bro can watch in adel, I can't watch here. Bizarre. check the code.
tenstar , 9/2/08 5:49 AM
No, not really any different but I was referring to the latest outburst at the Seniors Tournament on Aug 14 in Newport when he was sent off.
ed251137 , 9/2/08 5:54 AM
mcenroe is a joke of his former self. and the former wasn't that funny.
elle , 9/12/08 6:37 AM
It's been nearly three months, sir.
We could do with a post now. :(
rabidmonkeywrench , 10/10/08 8:43 AM
Nobody really knows who he is, but he represents our eyes and ears on the tennis circuit. Every now and then he reports about the latest news, gossip ...
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Picking on Ball Kiddies is not cool! Sometimes the umpire deserves a few words but never the kiddies. It shouldn't be below anyone to pick up a towel that isn't stretched out Roland Garros perfect.
I'd be interested to know what you make of Safin's behaviour in Cincy. An outburst from him isn't unual or that bad most of the time but did the linesman deserve more or less than what he got at the time?
It certainly isn't good to see players arguing on the court or as they are walking off. Lots of kiddies look up to them and I always assumed things were kept fairly peaceful in locker rooms as someone they don't know would always be there and they wouldn't want to look like a moron in front of people they don't know. I am probably to naive for my own good!
BernieEliza , 7/31/08 5:48 AM