In a Pique of Anger Baghdatis Smashes Four Racquets

Written by: Staff on 19th January 2012

In a Pique of Anger Baghdatis Smashes Four Racquets |

Marcos Baghdatis smashed four racquets in a minute as he slumped to a second round defeat at the Australian Open, bringing to mind the occasion that Goran Ivanisevic broke all his racquets and had to retire from a match as he had none left in Brighton many years ago.

Jo-Wilfried Tsonga dare not smash any of his. “You know, sometimes you get angry and it’s difficult to control yourself,” he said. “I mean, one, it can happen. But four, it’s a lot. For me, never. Never. Anyway, my father told me all the time, ‘If you broke the racquet, I broke you’. So I go easy with the racquet. Sometimes I prefer hit myself than my racquet.”

The women rarely display such anger and frustration, but they do sometimes boil over.

“You might be surprised, but I do smash racquets sometimes,” said Ana Ivanovic. “Last time I smashed not as many, but I smashed three racquets. That was US Open I think ’09. I lost match after being a match point up. I was quite upset. It didn’t really make me better, so I decided, What’s the point?”

Topics: Australian Open, Marcos Baghdatis