Nalbandian was the player. On his way down the rankings at the time and out of the game shortly afterwards so a really stupid way to mar his career.
He will remember his actions next time he gets frustrated, and break his racquet instead, a la Djokovic, and is thus docked a point and given a subsequent warning.
He'd have got away with it if the ball hadn't hit anyone but the DQ was the only outcome. I feel sorry for him because he obviously didn't mean any harm - how many other players have hit the ball in anger and not even got a warning but as soon as the umpire was touched, that was it (quite rightly). I saw him playing in the juniors in Wimbledon this year and he's a real talent, I just hope that this doesn't set him back too far.
Former SA rugby union captain Joost van der Westhuizen has died at 45. He had motor neurone disease so not unexpected. Horrible disease. RIP.
Hi Helen - seeing your avatar made me wonder how G.P. was doing in China? only played 13 games in 6 months scoring 5 goals. You never know - he may be back!
Very sad. I heard that he was seriously ill at the weekend from my friends in SA. One hell of a player - who remembers the try saving tackle on Jonah Lomu in the World Cup final? True legend and a really nice guy - condolences to his family.
The umpire hit in the eye had 2 hours hospital treatment and is going to be checked further for damage on his return to France. Hope he makes a full recovery. Anyone who has ever been even lightly poked in the eye will be able to guess the pain he has suffered. He has spoken up for Denys and said he was remorseful. He has been fined...I think it is unnecessary to suspend him as he will have learnt from this.
Agree with Fran. You could see the shock, horror and shame on the kid's face within seconds of it happening. I don't think any further punishment will make him feel any worse or any less likely to do this again.
Don't tease me like that, SiS The last I heard from him he was at training camp. I don't even know when their season starts, to be honest. Feyenoord fans are desperate to have him back as well...
The Chinese season starts in March, including the Euros he was playing continuiously from August 2015 to October 2016 <yikes. They only stayed up on the last day though...
I thought l he needed to be punished to remind other players, not just him, that no matter how frustrated you are, you don't act petulantly on the court, whether you mean to hurt someone or not. Would people be so forgiving if it was that petulant Australian. He could have looked and been just as remorseful. The suspension re-enforces the message.
Yeah, good point. There is the idea of a deterrent. If it was Kyrgios (assume that's who you mean) then he'd have a string of previous offences which would suggest a harsher sentence was needed, which seems like a fair approach to me.