Which of these would you pick as the most impressive display of frustration ?
Nominees:
[1] Arvind Parmar: During a qualifying match at Queens last year, Arvind kicked a ball right out of court 1 over onto centre court after losing a point. Off the TV and also if you go to Queens you can see how high the stands are for centre court and court 1 - it was a pretty massive effort.
[2] James Auckland: Auckland was so incensed with himself during his quarter-final match in the August hard-court futures tournament in Nottingham in 2005, that he smashed his racket into the cement surface. The racket was thrown with such force that it bounced up to above Auckland's head height. Now Auckland is a big guy - something like 6ft3 so that was some racket bounce. If you don't believe me, go to your local club and try bouncing your racket up to a height of about 6ft4 - I've tried several times and have yet to succeed. It's a tribute to the quality of Auckland's racket suppliers that the strings remained intact.
[3] Martin Lee: During a qualifying match at the 2005 Surbiton Challenger, Martin was furious with himself for losing his serve in a tight 3rd set. He decided to take out his frustration on the offending ball and smashed it so it flew across several courts, right out of the club and a considerable distance down the road. Thankfully for the spectators and Martin's bank balance, they had all parked further down the road !
[4] Andy Murray: Faced with the thought of missing out on this illustrious list Andy decided to get his entry in during the Davis Cup doubles rubber. His now infamous F-word rant at the umpire was the main talking point for the following week. To try and seal his place on the list, he slammed a tennis ball into the stadium roof to emphasize his frustration.
[5] Member of Stirling Uni tennis squad: This player performed one of the most comical ways of showing annoyance after a defeat, ever seen. After losing a tight match, before shaking hands, he took off his shoe and chucked it across 3 courts. This is most definately more difficult than it sounds as a shoe is a tricky projectile due to it's irregular shape. If you don't believe me, go down to your local club/courts and try chucking it across 3 courts.
great poll. I'm just wondering if there will now be an outbreak across the country of tennis players bouncing their rackets with intense concentration on their faces and then throwing their shoes in frustration as they fail to reach 6ft3. We may have to have a new poll as more vents for frustration are spotted after the offending shoes fail to fly a distance of 3 court lengths.
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imoen wrote: great poll. I'm just wondering if there will now be an outbreak across the country of tennis players bouncing their rackets with intense concentration on their faces and then throwing their shoes in frustration as they fail to reach 6ft3. We may have to have a new poll as more vents for frustration are spotted after the offending shoes fail to fly a distance of 3 court lengths.
Turbanator and I had great fun in setting that one up. I have actually tried throwing a shoe across three courts and it's very difficult, I've managed 2 court-lengths so far.
If anyone has seen any other funny examples of pros venting their frustration, please post them in this thread.
I once watched a top Zimbabwean junior player in action and he had the most amazing topspin serve, he could whip the serve up so it would bounce in the service box and kick up over his opponent's head and over the back fence. He hit loads of aces that day with that serve. Eventually his opponent got so frustrated that he went and stood on the other side of the fence to receive serve for a point !
