12 angry men of tennis

Just like any other sport, tennis is a game filled with emotions. There are times when players, who, even though seem calm and composed on court, sometimes lash out and show their anger.There have been players who constantly get angry a lot on court, while there are others who very rarely seem to show their dark side.Here is a list of 12 times when players have shown their anger either at their racket, themselves, their opponents, or even the umpires or linesmen.Please Note: Some players on this list are not usually the angry type on court (in fact they are usually calm and composed), but what is shown is just an instance of when they reacted badly after losing a point.

#12 Roger Federer

An extremely rare site

Roger Federer is one the most calm and composed players ever to have taken the court. It is extremely rare to see the Swiss Maestro express his emotions, whether it is in a good or a bad way. This was one of those extremely rare situations where we saw Roger Federer’s angry side. After losing a point which he should have won against Novak Djokovic in the finals of the Miami Open in the 3rd set, he smashed his racket to the ground. After doing so, he even got booed by the crowd. It was a very rare sight indeed.

Roger Federer, the holder of 17 grand slams is arguably the Greatest player of all time. After having a poor season on court in 2013, he has made a superb comeback in 2014 winning 6 titles, including 2 Masters titles. He is currently battling Novak Djokovic for the year ending No. 1 spot.

#11 Rafael Nadal

Rafa arguing with the umpire

Rafael Nadal is someone who does not lose his cool too often. On this occasion though, he completely lost it after losing a controversial point to Tomas Berdych in the ATP World Tour Finals in 2010. He let the umpire know what he thought about the decision as he argued with him for a long time.

He even argued with the match referee regarding the point. At one point it looked like Nadal was just going to sit down and forfeit, but he continued as he walked back onto the court. But he was not happy at all.

Rafael Nadal is one of the world’s best players ever and is 2nd on the all-time Grand Slam leaders list with 14 Grand Slams. Currently, he is ranked no. 3 and is battling his injuries in order to make a comeback to the tour, after pulling out of the ATP World Tour Finals which is set to begin in 5 days.

#10 Novak Djokovic

Djokovic lost his cool against Baghdatis

Novak Djokovic has gotten angry a lot of times on court, but usually he gets disgruntled with himself. It is rare that we see him take his anger out on his racket. But on this occasion, he let it all out as he smashed his racket on the ground after losing a point to Marcos Baghdatis. Maybe it was a way of mocking the man from Cyprus, who was famous for smashing 4 of his rackets after losing a point in of his matches in the Australian Open.

Djokovic is currently the world no. 1 and has enjoyed immense amount of success over the years. He has won 7 Grand-Slams and has reached the finals on many other occasions. He is currently battling with Roger Federer for the year end no. 1 spot, but looks in pole position to land the no. 1 ranking as he just recently won the Paris Masters after defeating Milos Raonic in the finals.

#9 David Nalbandian

An Unfortunate incident

This is probably the most un-sportsman like incident on this list. During his match against Marin Cilic in the Aegon Championships, he led Cilic by a set but, having been broken to trail 3–4 in the second, was disqualified when he kicked an on-court advertising board bordering a line judge's chair. The board flew off its hinges and struck the judge on the shin,"causing blood to pour from a nasty gash." The chair umpire then disqualified Nalbandian after looking the linesman’s injury.

Nalbandian had a lot of success in his career. He reached the semi-finals of the Australian Open, U.S Open and French Open in his career and had a career-high ranking of no. 3 in the World on 20th March 2006. He won the tour finals in 2005. He retired on 1st October 2013 at the age of 31.

#8 Andy Roddick

Roddick made sure the umpire issued a warning against him

Andy Roddick has let out his emotions in the wrong way a lot of times on court. Many a times, he has had a thing or two to say to the match officials or to his opponents. This time, it was in the match against Cipolla at the Mutua Madrid Open. He was trailing 0-2 in the third set and he smashed his racket after losing an easy point in the third game of the set.

He then went over to take a new racket and he asked the umpire whether he had been warned or not. On saying “No” Roddick then smashed his racket again until the umpire warned him.

Roddick has enjoyed a lot of success during his career, winning the U.S Open in 2003 and reaching the finals of the Wimbledon on 3 occasions, losing to Roger Federer all the 3 times.

#7 Jeff Tarango

Jeff Tarango forfeit in his match in Wimbledon 1995

Jeff Tarango was involved in one of the most infamous incidents on court in WImbledon ever. Trailing 7–6 (8–6), 2–1, during the match, when preparing to serve, the crowd heckled Tarango and he responded "Oh, shut up!" The umpire immediately issued a code violation to Tarango on the grounds of audible obscenity. Tarango protested this and called for the tournament referee calling for the umpire to be removed. No relief was given to Tarango and he was instructed to continue to play. He then accused the umpire of being "One of the most corrupt officials in the game" - to which the umpire gave Tarango another code violation, this time for unsportsmanlike conduct. Tarango got enraged, packed up his rackets and stormed off the court.

Tarango’s notable success includes reaching the finals of the French Open in 1999. His highest ranking was no. 42 which he achieved in 1992.

#6 Jerzy Janowicz

Janowicz lost his cool in his match against Somdev

During his encounter with India’s no. 1 singles player Somdev Devvarman, Jerzy Janowicz let out his emotions after losing a point which was just on the line. Janowicz was serving at 9-8 in the tie-break when he lost the point. He lost his cool and started screaming in disgust, and also started to argue with the umpire as well.

Janowicz is an upcoming tennis player and has had a lot of success during his career till now. His best performance at a grand slam was when he reached the semifinals of the Wimbledon in 2013. Another notable success for him was when he reached the finals of the Paris Masters in 2012 – as a qualifier. His highest ranking was no. 14 which he achieved in August 2013. He is currently ranked no. 43 in the world.

#5 Mikhail Youzhny

Youzhny smashed his racket on his head after losing a point

Mikhail Youzhny joins this list after this bizarre and painful act committed by him after he lost a crucial point in the deciding set in the Sony Ericsson Open to Nicolas Almagro. Usually players smash their racket on the ground or they just shout at themselves. Youzhny, on the other hand, took his racket and smashed it on his forehead thrice, ultimately making his forehead bleed and thus requiring treatment for his bruise.

Youzhny has been Russia’s no. 1 tennis player for a long time now and has enjoyed a reasonable amount of success on the tour, reaching the quarter-finals of all four grand slams, and crossing that stage twice. He reached his best rank ( No. 8 in the world ) in 2008, and in 2010 as well.

#4 Marcos Baghdatis

Baghdatis broke 4 rackets in a row

Marcos Baghdatis became very famous all around the world after his famous breakdown at the Australian Open against Stan Wawrinka. After losing a point and the game, he smashed his racket on the ground. But that was not the end of it. He went back to his seat and took out 4 new rackets and smashed those too. It seemed like he was doing it for fun at the end of it.

Baghdatis, the player from Cyprus has had a lot of ups and downs in career, the downs being mainly because of injury. He has enjoyed a lot of success over the years, and his best performance was reaching the finals of the Australian Open in 2006, and also the semifinals of the Wimbledon in the same year.

#3 Fernando Gonzalez

Gonzalez set the benchmark

Just like his compatriot Safin, Fernando Gonzalez was famous for breaking a lot of rackets during his playing career. It seems like he was the one who had started the trend of breaking rackets among the modern day players. Commentators used to use him as a benchmark when other players broke their rackets in disgust.

He is the fourth male tennis player in history to have won each Olympic medal (gold in doubles and bronze in singles at Athens 2004, and silver in singles at Beijing 2008). He also reached one major final in the form of the Australian Open 2007, against Roger Federer, where he lost.

Here is a video of when he broke his racket in disgust after losing a point against Roger Federer.

#2 Marat Safin

Safin broke a lot of rackets during his career

Marat Safin, the one-time grand slam winner from Russia was famous for one more thing other than winning a lot of matches and producing some quality tennis – For breaking rackets. During the course of his illustrated career, he has broken multiple rackets while playing different opponents on court. It seemed like Safin used this strategy of breaking rackets as a stress release because the number of rackets broken by him are innumerable. Along with breaking rackets, he was also involved in some confrontations with the umpires.

Here is a video compilation of the various times Safin has broken his racket on court.

#1 John McEnroe

McEnroe – The angry American

John McEnroe was arguably the most heated person on court ever. He was involved in a lot of on-court confrontations with the umpires and his opponents during his playing years. This was one of the instances which was a little over the top. The ball was called out by the umpire, but McEnroe thought otherwise and he let the umpire and everyone in the stadium know how he was feeling, by lashing out at the chair umpire. The umpire ultimately awarded the point to his opponent.

John McEnroe, is a former World No. 1 professional tennis player from the United States. He won seven Grand Slam singles titles, nine Grand Slam men's doubles titles, and one Grand Slam mixed doubles title