Sports Betting Blog

It’s been a while since we’ve covered the ATP Tour in this blog. Then again, this is also the first Grand Slam of the year and things are getting really hot in the Australian Open. But this story is not about Rafa Nadal, Novak Djokovic, Roger Federer or any of the usual suspects success in a given match. This little blog entry is about dealing with pressure and how when players lose their cool, things can get pretty interesting.

Perhaps it is the heat of the Australian summer, but it seems that the Argentinean David Nalbandian just couldn’t hold his anger any longer and suffered a little outburst in his five-set, second round game against John Isner of the United States.  When Isner was serving in the fifth set, the umpire Kader Nouni, had declined his request to challenge a line call. Nouni had said that Nalbandian took too long before he actually made the challenge and thus declined his request to consider the play one more time.

At that point, John Isner was facing break point at 8-8 when he just smashed a served into the middle. The ball was first called out by the line judge but Nouni overruled the initial call, saying it was actually an Ace for Isner. So the bottom line was that Nalbandian didn’t realize that Nouni had overturned the call until they were face-to-face and little over 15 seconds had pass by since the play had been made.

He eventually went on a little rage trip and even threw some water at a staff member in the Australian Open. Earlier today, Nalbandian was charged with an $8,000 fine for what the organization called unsportsmanlike behaviour. The fine was eventually confirmed by the International Tennis Federation on Friday, and so far it is the highest fine in the 2012 Australian Open.

But perhaps it is Marcos Baghdatis, the one who showed all his rage in a racket destruction marathon on Wednesday. He was under a lot of pressure. Down to sets and a break, Baghadtis sat down on his chair during the changeover and just let his temper go wild. He was eventually charged $1,250 for smashing four (yes, four consecutive rackets) during the break. He took his first racket and smashed it seven times, until it was unrecognizable. Baghdatis calmly gave the messed up racket to a ballboy and look as his bag. He carefully pulled a new racket out and cracked that one as well. The next two, he didn’t even bother taking out of the plastic wrapping. They just went out straight into the court floor. It was a massacre.

It’s hard to say how his racquet sponsors are going to fill about this little incident. But it’s quite certain that the people who make the Tecnifibre TFlash 315 SpeedFlex are not too happy with him right now.

Follow all the Australian Open, with daily matchups and the most competitive betting lines in the sports wagering market at Betias.com. Stay tuned for more coverage of the best matches from the first Grand Slam of the season.