Video: When in Rome – tennis player loses the plot at Italian Open and takes TV camera to prove his point

Viktor Troicki well and truly lost the plot at the Italian Open yesterday and went on a four-minute tirade after he felt the referee made the wrong call.

By Declan Whooley

Troicki was playing his second round match against Ernests Gulbis yesterday and was facing a break point in the first game of the second set after losing the opening set. And that is when the fun and games started.

Troicki hit a backhand that chair umpire Cedric Mourier overruled and called long, giving the game to Gulbis. Mourier inspected the mark and confirmed the call, believing there was space between the outline of the ball on the clay and the line.

To say that Troicki wasn’t happy would be a slight understatement and argued his point vociferously. At one stage he even took the TV camera to try and prove his point.

It proved to be entertaining for the few spectators, though Mourier eventually issued him a warning. When the game resumed Gulbis finished the game 6-1 6-1 and left Troicki with even more to stew over.

Here is the meltdown as it happened.