You don’t just see forehands, backhands, serves and volleys on professional tennis courts…
I saw a Yannick Noah do the moonwalk in a live rubber Davis Cup match vs Australia.
I saw a RD Ferman shank a second serve ace down the tee in the duece court in the finals of the Polonia Open doubles at Packanack Lake Tennis Club.
I saw an ATP player hit a net cord serve that ricocheted right into a ball kid’s hand at the net post at Delray Beach Open.
I saw Boris Becker begging Marcelo Rios to win just a point in 1998 in the QF of Stuttgart. Rios won 62 60.
I saw Marcelo Rios hit an overhead winner vs. Agassi while sitting on his butt after having slipped and fallen. Grand Slam Cup final in 1998 in Germany.
I saw Maria Sharapova win a bagel set in California in summer hard court season despite being down game points in each of the six games.
I saw Anna Chakvetadze have her ponytail get stuck in her racquet throat.
I saw Pete Sampras hit a serve so hard that it blasted or exploded straight through Patrick Rafter’s racquet strings in the Cincy final.
I saw Nick Kyrgios asking fans for coaching advice on where to serve at the Citi Open last year.
I saw Yoshihito Nishioka and Peter Polansky play a practice set tiebreaker in Delray Beach last year with more intensity and passion than any tiebreaker I ever saw in a live pro match.
I saw Michael Chang do an imitation of Jimmy Connors at the Hamlet Cup in a point of a match in the early 90s which served as a tribute to Jimbo who pulled out of the event on his birthday. It was so unexpected and funny the whole stadium laughed.
I saw Mats Wilander sweeping a clay court at Delray Beach at his Wilander on Wheels event.
I saw Kristina Mladenovic crying two years in a row after losing first round in singles at Citi Open.
I saw Jim Courier reading a book on a changeover at an ATP tournament match.
I saw Bernard Tomic practice at Delray Beach Open last year with his Mizuno shoes untied.
What are some of the strange things you have seen at a pro tennis tournament?
' Rios · Nishioka · Sampras · Tomic
JohnnyTD · July 30, 2020 at 9:36 am
Epic list Scoop 🛐 Unfortunately i haven’t seen anything extraordinary myself.
The Mladenovic crying story reminded me of something weird i saw on TV though, Zvonareva was crying during a match nonstop, she was playing while crying. 2 spectators, a man and a woman were watching her and laughing. The camera showed that couple often. It was quite bizarre, i don’t know if they really enjoyed the “show” or they just felt uncomfortable that’s why they were laughing.
Recently Söderling said he had panic attacks and was searching for ways to kill himself on the net (even thought he didn’t seriously wanna do it.)
One thing Zvonareva and Söderling had in common is that they often put their towels on their heads the same way, to completely shut out the world.
I bet Zvonareva could tell an interesting thing or two if she did a “coming out” a la Söderling.
Scoop Malinowski · July 30, 2020 at 7:02 pm
Johnnytd, Zvonareva was an emotional hothead in her younger pro years. She was good value to watch, some would call her a psycho but she was just very emotional and probably a trickster, using her (manufactured) emotional meltdowns to distract the opponent. Desperate players and desperate Russians know all the tricks. She was great and also a great interview, one of the best biofiles ever. Super smart girl.
Scoop Malinowski · July 31, 2020 at 1:25 pm
It’s come out now that Bill Clinton went to estein island with two underage girls, possibly as young as 12. How is this not the lead story in the US media today? Yahoo won’t even mention it. fake controlled lying Media is the enemy of the people. It’s the reason Epstein was able to prey on young girls for 2+ decades. Same reason ABC killed the Epstein story three years ago. The media is corrupt to the core. They protect pedophiles at all costs.
Sam · August 2, 2020 at 3:17 am
“emotional meltdowns to distract the opponent.”
A.k.a., emotional meldonium. 😉
Krzysztof · August 2, 2020 at 4:19 am
I saw Stefan Edberg playing with 100,5 Fahrenheit degrees fever at indoors tournament in Vienna 1996. He almost fainted, was coughing like hell, but managed to beat Thomas Muster in front of his home crowd in Wiener Stadthalle.
Scoop Malinowski · August 2, 2020 at 8:20 am
Krzysztof, are you certain Edberg wasn’t faking or exaggerating? I still think Pete Sampras faked it vs Corretja to throw him off 🙂 I never heard about this match between Edberg and Muster, sounds like a forgotten classic.
Krzysztof · August 2, 2020 at 8:42 am
Scoop, oh no! It was true,Edberg had flu! You can watch it here: https://youtu.be/44SkwFFDd1E
Scoop Malinowski · August 2, 2020 at 11:44 am
Krzysztof! Great match. I love 90s indoor tennis. Love that era. Edberg volley at 18:20 is one of the best I ever saw. But I think Edberg was faking the flu! He looked great all match but then hammed it up at the end when he won. Great match, great battle! Or did he have corona virus? )