Home / China / Sports

Troicki joins Wimbledon hall of shame

By Agence France Presse In London | China Daily | Updated: 2016-07-02 08:28

Serbia's Viktor Troicki launched a vintage rant at Wimbledon on Thursday, blasting an umpire as an "idiot" and lambasting him for being "the worst in the world".

Fiery Troicki, the 25th seed, slumped to a 3-6, 6-3, 6-3, 2-6, 6-3 loss to Spain's Albert Ramos-Vinolas after slipping to match point down on a controversial ruling by umpire Damiano Torella.

A serve from the Spaniard had been called out but the decision was reversed, making it an ace.

Troicki was furious, carrying the ball back to the chair on Court 17, telling the official to "look at it".

"No white, look at it!" shouted Troicki, as he pleaded with the official to look for chalk dust.

"Come on please, look at it, once, once! Look at it."

"You're the worst umpire in the world, you're so bad," screamed Troicki, who received a code violation for his behavior after smashing the ball in question out of the court.

He lost the match on the next point but continued his rant as Torella climbed down from his perch.

"You're horrible. You know what you did. You are the worst ever. You're an idiot!" he screamed.

"You didn't see anything in the match. You made about 30 mistakes for him and for me."

Troicki shouted ""What are you doing?" at least six times before screaming an obscenity as he stormed off the court.

He faces a fine of around $6,600 for his outburst but he later insisted that Torella should also be penalized.

The Serb believes the Italian lacked the necessary experience to officiate on a court where there is no Hawk-Eye replay technology.

"He should be the one who is fined, he cost me," Troicki said.

"I'm not saying he cost me the match, but he cost me an important point.

"I behaved well. I didn't do anything until that moment.

"He's doing such a match and I've never seen him in my whole career. That's just crazy."

Troicki found a supporter in controversial Australian star Nick Kyrgios, who is no stranger to fallouts with officials.

Kyrgios tweeted late on Thursday: "I feel for you @troicki_viktor - fkn joke."

Troicki's outburst recalled famous meltdowns from previous Wimbledons.

As well as John McEnroe's widely-parodied "You cannot be serious!" bombardment, the All England Club famously witnessed a Jeff Tarango rant in 1995.

The American described umpire Bruno Rebeuh as the "most corrupt official in the world" and refused to play on until the supervisor was called.

He eventually defaulted but the drama continued when Tarango's wife slapped Rebeuh in the face.

Meanwhile, controversial Australian Bernard Tomic apologized on Thursday after he used the word "retard" during a Wimbledon media conference.

World No 19 Tomic's comments had been branded as "damaging and offensive" by a learning disability charity.

"Yeah look, I apologize if I offended anyone. I'm sorry. It just came out the wrong way," Tomic said after beating Moldova's Radu Albot to make the third round.

The Australian made the comments on Wednesday after being asked how he felt being made to wait for his first round opponent Fernando Verdasco to arrive on court.

"I think he was up in the locker getting something taped. When I left, I thought he was leaving, so I just happened to walk out," said the 23-year-old.

"I did get to the court prior to him very early, and unfortunately I had to stand around like a retard."

Learning disability charity Mencap had earlier asked Tomic to apologize.

Tomic has been plagued by controversies on and off the court throughout his career.

 

Editor's picks