Who Said There's No Drama in Tennis?

Your Weekly Tennis Roundup

By Mason Walling

Sang Tan / AP

 Of all the weeks to possibly read my articles, if you just so happened to stumble upon this one, you’re in luck.

I would say this is about as scandalous as a tennis blog can get.  Even a mild tennis fan should be able to get behind this stuff.  So stick with me.

Let’s start off with Bernard Tomic, the 20-year-old, 6-foot-5-inch, Australian tennis phenom.  Tomic is in the news this week because his father/coach, John Tomic, has been banned from attending the Australian Open this coming January.  Why you might ask?  John Tomic was convicted of assault for allegedly head-butting his son’s practice partner, Thomas Drouet, this past May in Madrid.

The ATP has put John Tomic on a 12-month hiatus from their events, which doesn’t expire until May 2014.  The Spanish court that charged and convicted Tomic also gave him an eight-month jail sentence, which was later suspended.

Now we see where young Bernard gets his bold behaviors from.  In January of 2012, a then 19-year-old Bernard Tomic got in a wacky stand-off with the authorities at his home in the Gold Coast, Australia.  After refusing to pull over his orange BMW M3, Tomic and his girlfriend were chased home by police, only to barricade themselves behind the gates of the residence.  For the full version of this bizarre event, click here.

Bernard Tomic is currently playing in the China Open in Beijing, and he takes on Richard Gasquet of France in the second round.  Interestingly enough, Tomic turns 21 later this month.  Think he will have a nice, quiet birthday celebration?

In another headline from this week that is newsworthy, 31-year-old Argentine David Nalbandian has officially announced his retirement from tennis.  Many people say that Nalbandian ranks among the best professional tennis players to ever play the game without winning one of the four major Grand Slams.  His highest career ranking was number three in the world, in the early 2000’s.

Despite all of the epic matches of his illustrious career, Nalbandian is unfortunately remembered by most for an incident that occurred in 2012 at Queen’s Club. 

Nalbandian was battling Marin Cilic in the tournament final when he over hit a forehand and kicked a wooden advertisement box in frustration.  The box smashed instantly and struck a line judge in the leg, creating a severe gash.  Nalbandian was disqualified for unsportsmanlike conduct, and Cilic was awarded the championship.

You can watch the clip from this controversial match by clicking here.