Many great tennis players have been characterized by their ability to shock the fans not only because of their talent but also because of a series of unusual events that don't have anything to do with these features.
10. Martina Hingis
One of the surprising names on the controversial tennis player list is the 2013 International Tennis Hall of Fame inductee Martina Hingis. Moreover, she is considered one of the greatest female tennis players ever. During the 1990s, she became the youngest Grand slam champion and world number 1.
However, even after attaining so much success in tennis, Martiana is no stranger to tennis controversy. One of the famous controversial statements made by Hingis came in 2001 when she told Time Magazine being black has helped Willaims sister.
She also said they are getting sponsors and advantages due to their skin color. Later, Hingis also told Matchball magazine that playing with Serena Willaims felt like playing against a steamroller.
9. Andy Roddick
Andy Roddick is the last male American tennis player to win the Grand Slam title. He also has reached the finals of all major championships. Fans mostly know him for his lethal service, which made him difficult to beat. However, besides his amazing gameplay, Roddick is also known for his temper. Moreover, Roddick rarely left the tennis court without saying a thing to his opponent or the umpire.
One of his famous ride incidents happened in the 2010 US Open when Roddick joked about the chair umpire saying “1800 rent -a-ref” for making a foot fault call. Likewise, in the Mutua Madrid Open in 2011, he lost 2-0 against Cipolla; he furiously smashed his racket after giving away easy points. Later, after being found umpire had not warned him, Roddick again smashed his racket.
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8. Lleyton Hewitt
He is one of the well-known players whose accomplishment is overshadowed by his attitude and controversies. One of his famous rude moments happened in the 2001 US Open. He was playing with James Blake.
During the match, a black linesman called foot-fault on him twice. Later, he accused the linesman of calling faults against him due to his skin color. Likewise, French Open Hewitt called the chair umpire Andre England net judge spastics in the same year.
Similarly, in 2002 Wimbledon he was fined $1000 for his unsportsmanlike actions. In the match against Robin Hasse, he got mad after the chair umpire called multiple foot faults. So, he smashed the racket and also tapped the ball towards the line judge’s direction. In the press conference, Hewitt also criticized the umpire decision.
7. Daniel Koellerer
Unlike in other sports, it’s rare to hear the word match-fixing in tennis. But the name of Daniel Koellerer comes to everyone’s mind when match-fixing pops out. Moreover, he is the first person to serve a lifetime ban for trying to fix matches. Under sports anti-corruption rules, he was guilty of three different violations. So, people who loved and watched tennis were happy to see him given a lifetime ban for attempting match-fixing. Besides that, he had already served a six months ban before in 2006 for his bad behavior.
Furthermore, Koellerer has many other disrespectful and rude actions in tennis.During the 2010 ATP Challenger Tour in Italy, Brazilian Julio Silver filed charges against him for making racist remarks to ATP.
He was accused of calling Silva “monkey, ” saying “go back to the jungle,” and doing monkey movements. The same year, he also insulted his fellow Austrian, Stefan Koubek, during the Australian league.
6. Marinko Matosevic
Marinko Matesovic is not a famous player in terms of performance in tennis, but he is pretty famous for his rude and controversial moments.
In 2014 he made a controversial comment on women’s tennis, saying he would never hire a female tennis coach like Andy Murray. Likewise, in the same year, even after winning the match against Nicolas Mahut, Matosevic lost his temper. He refused to do a handshake with the umpire, and kicked the on-court camera.
Once, he shocked everyone when he screamed at the children who asked for his autograph in Miami while training.
5. Bernard Tomic
In 2012 Miami Masters Tomic requested the umpire to eject his own father from the stands. In 2013 he was charged with eight months prison sentence for headbutting and breaking the nose of his hitting partner Thomas Drouet.
He also faced a one year ban from ATP World Tour following his improper behavior.
During the 2015 Wimbledon press conference after losing to Djokovic, Tomic ranted against Tennis Australia for lack of respect, support, and funding. After failing to qualify for the Australian Open in 2018, he commented he only counts cash and millions. Likewise, in 2019 Wimbledon lost to Jo-Wilfried Tsonga. He was charged with a £45,000 fine for not fulfilling the “required professional standard.”
4. Jimmy Connors
After Rafael Nadal, he is probably the player with the most winning personality of all time, achieving nothing less than 8 Grand Slam titles and being one of the first to execute the two-handed backhands, a style that many players constantly use these days.
Nevertheless, his competitive side always turned him into a rage machine that tended to outburst against the chair umpire, the public and everyone who stood between him and the victory, creating a beast that polarized the public into lovers and haters.
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3. Ilie Nastase
He earned the nickname “Nasty” for his rude and impertinent actions on and off the court.
Mocking, swearing, and raging were common when Nastase played. Fans were even annoyed with his constant violent actions and words.
After retiring, Nastase has faced a ban for insulting female players multiple times. Firstly he made racial comments about Serena Williams’s unborn child.
2. John McEnroe
If we're talking about frantic tennis players, this is probably the best example of all, because, throughout his successful career, the common denominator wasn't only the incredibly points or trophies, but also a series of outbursts that constantly showed on the court, whether to drain his rage , distract his rival or both.
The indomitable " Big Mac", the one who fought epic battles against legends as Jimmy Connors or Bjorn Borg, used to intimidate the chair umpire by yelling insults and questioning his decisions. However, he usually ended up getting penalty points or even disqualification because of his unnecessary rudeness.
1. Nick Kyrgios
There is probably no unsportsmanlike conduct he has not conducted. Moreover, a whole new book of 100 pages can be written about his incidents. From verbally abusing fans, tanking, mocking opponents, smashing rackets to raging against the officials, he has done it all. Likewise, in the 2015 Rogers Cup, he made insulting comments on Stan Wawrinka‘s comments. Later, he got six months suspensions and about a $50k fine in total by ATP.
Soon after returning from suspension in 2016, he again got banned for two months and a fine of about $8k for abusing fans and tanking. Moreover, in the 2019 Cincinnati Masters, Kyrgois was slapped with a record-setting $113k fine for five different unsportsmanlike behavior.
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