Opinion: Nick Kyrgios and Alexander Zverev are the latest examples of men's tennis snowballing anger crisis

ByRob Hemingway

Updated 30/03/2022 at 20:24 GMT

Is tennis not enough? Some commentators are already predicting a fallow post-GOAT era where forehands and backhands won't be sufficient to sustain fan interest. But it depends what sort of game we want to create. One that fetishises anger and aggression? Or one where we let the racket and the ball do the talking?

In 2018, an article appeared in the New York Times revealing the number of fines that had been distributed to male and female players in Grand Slam tournaments.

The naughty list was split by gender and by type of fine, and there were some remarkable conclusions.

Let's take this one for starters. Between 1998 and 2018, 646 fines were dished out to male players for racket abuse at Grand Slams. That corresponding number for women? 99.

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You might have thought those stark numbers of the men's side would perhaps encourage some introspection, either on the part of the players themselves or the authorities that try and police the game, particularly as the other categories were just as damning. Audible obscenity? 344-140 to the men. Unsportsmanlike conduct? 287-67. Verbal abuse? 62-16.

But in the last month, it would seem the men's game is further away than ever from addressing its anger issue.

First there was Alexander Zverev's meltdown in Acapulco, where he smashed his racket against the umpire's chair three times, almost hitting Italian official Alessandro Germani on the leg with one of his swings.

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Next it was Nick Kyrgios, who - not content with breaking his racket early in the match - launched his racket into the ground after losing to Rafael Nadal at Indian Wells, coming extremely close to hitting a ball boy on the head.

Jenson Brooksby went one better in Miami, sending his racket hurtling along the floor after missing a serve and hitting a ball boy on the leg.

All of this of course follows perhaps men's tennis' most famous rage moment, the default of Novak Djokovic at the 2020 US Open for hitting a line judge in the throat with a ball.

The punishments have followed, with each player fined for their indiscretions. But is that the right way to encourage better behaviour? Does getting hit in the pocket bother a multi-millionaire?

Tennis has long fetishised its bad-boy culture, with John McEnroe's rants entering into the sport's folklore perhaps even more so than the memories of his biggest Grand Slam wins.

Watch the shocking moment Zverev attacks umpire’s chair with racquet

But perhaps there has been too much tolerance for too long. Perhaps if these acts of aggression are allowed to snowball, and bad examples continue to be set for the next generation, it could create a vicious cycle.

Or perhaps, we try and just let tennis be enough. Was the impeccably played-out final between Roger Federer and Rafa Nadal at Wimbledon in 2008 not enough? Some seem to think not, and parade an argument that there needs to be controversy in the game. Fallout. Anger.

Kyrgios said it was unlucky that his racket rebounded where it did. But we're maybe not the only ones to think he is missing the point.

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