Marcos Baghdatis was fined $800 for smashing four rackets during his match with Stanislas Wawrinka at the Australian Open on Wednesday. After going down a break in the third set of his four-set loss, Baghdatis sat in his chair at the changeover and smashed his racket repeatedly until it was mangled. He then took three more out of his bag—two that were still wrapped in plastic wrappers—and broke them one after another.
A number of players reacted to Baghdatis’ display. Jo-Wilfried Tsonga said: "My father told me all the time, If you broke the racquet, I broke you,” the Frenchman said with a laugh. "So I go easy with the racquet. Sometimes I prefer hit myself than my racquet."
Serena Williams added: "I actually used to break a lot of racquets on the court. I sometimes break them in practice, just not in a match anymore. I think when you're young it kind of maybe lets out a little frustration. It’s just is a way to express yourself. I think those players are super, super intense. So I can't necessarily go and say you shouldn't do that when I was actually someone that did it a lot. I got to a place where I could see how many places I could crack in a racquet. I got five. This is great. But it's definitely not the best way to release your anger. I think the older you get, you realize there's more different ways."
Other men to be fined at this year's Australian Openinclude: John Isner, Alexandr Dolgopolov, and Denis Istomin (abuse of racket and equipment); Donald Young, Juan Carlos Ferrero, and Gilles Simon (swearing); and Fernando Verdasco (coached from sidelines), who received the biggest fine of $2,000.