Argentinean tennis player, David Nalbaldian, lost his marbles yesterday afternoon in the finals of the AEGON Championships at Queens in London, and kicked some advertising boards injuring a linesman in the process; the act got him disqualified from the finals which saw Marin Cilic take the title.

Nalbaldian won the first set on a tie-break but reacted angrily after being broken for the second time in the second set Having just lost the seventh game Nalbandian fiercely kicked an advertising board in front of line judge Andrew McDougall’s chair. The board smacked into the line judge’s shin and a caused an inch-long bloody gash.

Nalbaldian said:

I am sorry to do that. Sometimes we get very frustrated here on court. It is tough to control. Something 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.

His opponent Cilic didn’t want to take the title in this manner and said, ” [t]o end like this is not easy. The match was getting hot and it’s tough to see the final finishes like this.”

The championship at Queens is the last major tournament on grass before Wimbledon. There was a full-crowd in to watch, and were rather peeved when they did not get a full final. The ATP said that Nalbaldian would not be punished “beyond this tournament”.

BBC Radio five commentator, David Felgate,  was not inpressed with Nalbandian’s apology:

 Nalbandian has got it all wrong. It wasn’t a sincere enough apology. To go off on some political rant had no bearing on what he did. I wonder if there could be a bigger fine for bringing the game into disrepute for that speech. He didn’t even apology to the touch judge or Marin Cilic. It was a poor show from David Nalbandian.

Whatever happens this one is going to crank up the views on youtube, and be refereed to over and over as ‘one of tennis’s major break down’s.’

Source: The Telegraph, BBC]