‘This has to stop’: Tennis erupts over ‘absurd’ racquet-smashing saga

Tennis stars are being allowed to smash racquets and strike fear into ballkids, and fans have had enough of the sport’s weak response.

A ball girl ducks for cover as Jordan Thompson whacks a ball at the Miami Open.

Tennis has a serious problem at the moment — players are throwing racquets in anger left right and centre, nearly taking out ballkids and nothing is being done about it.

There were disturbing scenes at the Miami Open on Friday (AEDT) when two players, including Australian Jordan Thompson, unleashed their anger on their racquets and unsuspecting ballkids were caught in the firing line.

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Jenson Brooksby threw his racquet twice during his match against Federico Coria.

The American whacked his courtside chair and it ricocheted back onto the court but it was his other outburst that drew the ire of tennis fans.

Furious at losing a point, Brooksby slammed his racquet down on the baseline but it flew backwards, bouncing twice before hitting the ball person in the legs, despite them taking evasive action.

Coria argued his opponent should have been immediately disqualified from the match, but the umpire only penalised Brooksby one point and he was allowed to play on because the ball person wasn’t injured.

Jenson Brooksby hit a ballboy after thowing his racquet at the Miami Open.

He went on to win the match in three sets, as did Thompson, who defeated Jo-Wilfred Tsonga.

But Thompson’s win was soured by a similar outburst of his own. The Aussie belted a ball off his racquet that left a ball girl on the side of the court ducking for cover.

Earlier this year, Thompson smashed a racquet into smithereens during his loss to Reilly Opelka at the Sydney Tennis Classic.

Tennis fans were gobsmacked Brooksby and Thompson weren’t defaulted and slammed the sport for its soft penalties for players’ violent outbursts.

Jenson Brooksby got a point penalty for this. His opponent, Federico Coria, seemingly thought he should get more. Can see why. https://t.co/YTgy4xF5B8

— The Tennis Podcast (@TennisPodcast) March 24, 2022

How is this not instant default?! This is getting ridiculous https://t.co/ZL5Zm3Ukzp

— Tim Callanan (@MrTimCallanan) March 24, 2022

Uhhhh….Brooksby hit the ball guy with his racket and didn’t get DQ’d?

— Allen McDuffee (@AllenMcDuffee) March 24, 2022

More from Miami:

Soon after Brooksby, Jordan Thompson launched a hall that left a ball girl ducking out of the way.

What is happening in this sport?pic.twitter.com/gTgbVACWWA

— Ben Rothenberg (@BenRothenberg) March 24, 2022

“This has to stop,” New York Times tennis journalist Christopher Clarey tweeted.

“The more you let it slide or slap it on the wrist the more it will increase. This, in my book, should be an automatic default, even if, as in Indian Wells or here, the ballperson dodged the racket.

“Officials or tournament personnel should never be put at physical risk by a player’s lack of self control.

“And to me, this falls into the intentional category. He did not intentionally target the ballkid but he did intentionally fling the racket into a part of the court where people could be put at risk.”

Tennis reporter Ben Rothenberg said: “What is happening in this sport?

“Tennis players, PLEASE stop launching projectiles on the court with no regard for the other people on court. And tennis authorities, PLEASE start taking this seriously so that players get the message. Shouldn’t take an eventual, inevitable grievous injury to do that.

A ballgirl takes evasive action as Jordan Thompson whacks a ball into the crowd.

“The bar is set somewhere truly nuts right now for ATP discipline.”

Brooksby’s racquet slam was criticised in particular — former players and pundits were astonished he wasn’t disqualified from the match on the spot.

Former World No. 1 and Australian Open champion Caroline Wozniacki said on the Tennis Channel: “This definitely should be a disqualification.”

Australian tennis coach Craig O’Shannessy added: “That’s a default. That’s absolutely a default. That’s positively a default. That’s clearly a default. I don’t know what else to say.”

The two outbursts continued a recent trend of players lashing out violently with their racquets but only copping negligible penalties.

There was widespread uproar when the ATP allowed Alexander Zverev to continue playing in tournaments despite his violent attack on an umpire that saw him booted from a tournament in Mexico earlier this year.

Last week, Nick Kyrgios apologised for nearly hitting a ball boy after smashing his racquet on the ground at Indian Wells.

The Brooksby incident followed an almost identical script of: throwing his racquet, nearly hitting a ball kid, apologising on Instagram, posting a photo apologising to the ball kid, all while being roundly slammed by tennis fans.

Jenson Brooksby was slammed for his outburst at the Miami Open. Photo: Clive Brunskill/Getty Images/AFP

“I am truly sorry for my actions out there today,” Brooksby wrote on Instagram.

“I will learn from this and continue to grow on and off court. A lot has been said about my actions on court today. I went on live TV and apologised to all and apologised via the media. “I also did meet with the person involved. He took me aside and we had a good chat and I appreciate him doing that. shouldn’t have happened and I will do my best to learn from this.”

But the tennis fans believe enough is enough and the sport’s governing body needs to come down harder on players’ on-court tantrums.

Doubles great and commentator Patrick McEnroe said on Twitter: “Seriously what is it going to take … drawing blood … to properly punish a tennis player. This is absolutely absurd.”

Tennis writer Musab Abid: “First the Kyrgios incident, now this. Tennis really likes to mollycoddle its violently bad-tempered stars.”