Unsportsmanlike behaviour

Any of my regular readers will probably have noticed that I am not a great fan of sport.

But even I can't be completely oblivious to yesterday's remarkable example of unsportsmanlike behaviour from David Nalbandian in the tennis tournament that precedes Wimbledon, called Queens.  It gives the professionals a chance to play on grass in temperate (moist) England, in advance of the 'real thing'.  Most of them cope well with the challenge, but a few lose their temper.  David Nalbandian was one of these.

OK, he's competitive.  OK, the grass was a bit slippery, and more so at one end of the court than the other.  And OK, he wasn't doing as well as his opponent.  

So he lost his temper and this is what happened.

Not kicking the man, but not caring about him either.

He didn't actually kick the judge himself, but he did kick a board that was in place around his feet, and he kicked it very hard as you can see in this video.  This was the consequence.

Take Nalbandian to court for assault!

For a start I think he was very lucky that the line judge was not a younger and more feisty man.  In the circumstances, many a man would have floored Nalbandian for this (whether right or wrong).  I don't really approve of violence but I think I would have approved of such an action in this case.  It would have served him right, but would have served the victim badly.

Now, ignore the Die Hard movies where people get hurt much more badly but appear not to notice.  Let's face it - that must have HURT!  I think that the line judge should take him to court for his childish actions.  Even famous tennis players have a duty of care to the rest of the people around them, and they must take the consequences, including the time that they have to waste defending themselves.  After all, these line judges are probably volunteering their time free of charge to enable the professional tennis players to make a pretty good living on the circuit.

On top of that, shame on the crowd for booing the umpire for giving the game to the opponent.  (As you can tell, I don't even mind who the opponent was!)  Shame on Nalbandian for his puerile behaviour.  My son plays 14 year olds who have better control than that - along with others who don't.  The latter do not need a role model.

This kind of behaviour is reprehensible and unsportsmanlike.

What's more - that word gets past the 'speeling chequer'!