http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NdB1TrQxz2k
There’s never normally much drama at the Queen’s Championships before Wimbledon, but the final of this year’s event will be remembered for all the wrong reasons.
In quite amazing scenes at the Aegon Championships final this afternoon, David Nalbandian was disqualified from the final during his meeting with Marin Cilic after kicking an advertising hoarding into the leg of a line judge.
The feisty Argentine was reacting to a missed shot during the second set of the final when he kicked an advertising hoarding that subsequently pierced the shin of line judge Andrew McDougall and caused him to bleed heavily afterwards.
It is clear that Nalbandian meant to take his anger out on the inanimate advertising hoarding rather than the line judge, but McDougall was in some pain and despite some anger amongst the crowd, umpire Fergus Murphy disqualified Nalbandian for “unsportsmanlike behaviour” and awarded the match to Cilic shortly after Nalbandian’s act of petulance.
Nalbandian apologised for his actions afterwards, saying: “I’m sorry, sometimes we get very frustrated on court.
“It is tough to control. Sometimes it is a mistake. It is a tough moment to end a final like that.
“Sometimes we feel the pressure from the ATP. It is a mistake and I have to pay for that. Everybody makes mistakes.”
There have been a lot of tennis players who have been prone to flights of fury on the court and have got away with it, but as far as we can make out, Nalbandian can cleary see the line judge and although we’re not insinuating that he meant to hurt him, he doesn’t really have a leg to stand on in this case, pardon the unintended pun.
Feel free to make your own judgement on the incident after watching it in the video above.
