2009 US Open
Nothing winds up tennis players more than being foot-faulted and when Williams was called, again, a serve away from match point down to Kim Clijsters in this semi-final she marched over to her tormentor to tell her: “I swear to God I’m going to take this ball and shove it down your fucking throat, you hear that? I swear to God.” The line judge reported her to the umpire, apparently believing her life to be in danger. “I never said I would kill you, are you serious?” Williams protested. She was docked a point and therefore defaulted the match. Watch a video of Serena's outburst here Photograph: Andrew Schwartz/Reuters
2008 Miami Masters
Having mishit another lame backhand into the net, the skinhead Russian took immediate physical revenge on his own cranium, which he whacked three times with his graphite racket. Youzhny connected with his head in a way that he had earlier rarely threatened with the ball. Having opened a gash on his hairline, he then lined up to receive serve with blood pouring down his face. A doctor was summoned and the wound was patched, but the Russian had already gone viral: 500,000 YouTube hits and a lifetime achievement award in the tantrum hall of fame. Watch a video of Youzhny's reaction here Photograph: Public Domain
Miami 2005
For sheer Where the Wild Things Are childish temper, it is hard to beat the ponytailed Malisse’s performance in Miami. Unable to accept a line call, the Belgian first threw himself to the ground and refused to get up, then proceeded to kick a chair and the courtside barrier before screaming in increasingly high-pitched tones. “What did I do? I didn’t do anything!” into the face of an official. Finally, he turned his attention on a terrified young female line judge -“Do you know what you have done?” - who justifiably ran for cover. Watch the episode on video here Photograph: Public Domain
Wimbledon 1981
Students of McEnroe will have personal favourites, but the original monologue sets the bar. The genius of his tantrums, as with his tennis, was that he could shift the intensity of attack instantaneously. Here he begins with an innocuous statement to the umpire – “You can’t be serious” – before upping the volume and emphasising the “CAN NOT”. There is then the lawyerly appeal to objective reality – chalk dust – and finally the toreador conclusion, made to officialdom in general, with an existential bitterness: “You guys are just the pits of the world!”. Watch the video here Photograph: Tony Duffy/Allsport
Wimbledon 1995
The unseeded American guaranteed his 15 seconds of fame on the highlights show in 1995 when, in a poor impression of McEnroe, he informed the umpire, Bruno Rebeuh, that he was “the most corrupt official in the game” and, after having attempted to have Rebeuh removed from the chair, walked off court. As the crowd jeered, Tarango yelled petulantly: “Shut up.” When Rebeuh walked back to the umpire’s room he was assaulted by Benedicte, Tarango’s wife: “She walked up behind me, pinched and twisted my arm and slapped my face”. Watch the video here Photograph: Boris Horvat/AFP/Getty Images
French Open 1999
The Swiss Miss was only 18 when she came up against the then veteran champion Steffi Graf. Hingis was in sight of an historic victory when a ball was called out that she thought had hit the line. Refusing to believe the umpire’s judgment, she broke the first commandment of tennis etiquette by walking around to Graf’s side of the net to check the mark on the clay for herself. The 16,000-strong French crowd, quick to recognise disrespect, booed Hingis mercilessly, she never recovered her composure and eventually lost the match in tears. Watch a video of the dispute here Photograph: Action Images
US Open 1979
Nastase, the original “character”, invented the modern tantrum and had no desire to see his thunder stolen by the upstart McEnroe. The 19 minutes of mayhem he caused in a match against Superbrat might well have been intended as a kind of masterclass. When a call went against him, the Romanian staged a sort of clownish downing of tools, calling for the removal of the umpire who was attempting to disqualify him. When the tournament referee was summoned, it was the umpire who was dismissed and Nastase was allowed to continue. McEnroe, no doubt, took note Photograph: Ron Frehm/AP
US Open 1991
At 39, Connors might have been raging against the dying of the light, but in his fourth round match against Aaron Krickstein most of that sense of impending mortality was directed at the umpire’s chair. Often a bully on court, Connors was losing to his compatriot when, disputing two line calls in the same game, he called the umpire first “a bum”, then “an abortion”. He subsequently mimicked the official and pretended to eject him from the court. Connors escaped his own eviction, won the match and reached his last US semi-final. Watch a video of his tirade here Photograph: Bob Thomas/Getty Images
2000 Samsung Open, Brighton
There was always a proper respect for central European absurdism in Goran’s approach to the game and, in particular, in his attitude toward dissent. When he started smashing rackets at this minor tournament, he seemed intent on allowing the drama to develop the kind of internal logic that would have been familiar to Eugène Ionescu. Having eventually smashed all the rackets he had brought out on court with him, Ivanisevic almost calmly realised he was left with nothing with which to play so, he announced to the umpire, he couldn’t go on and strolled off court. Watch a news report of the incident here Photograph: Ian Walton/Getty Images
Wimbledon 2003
Grinning Greg usually managed to mop up his frustrations in the comfort blanket of his change-over towel. But as if to prove once and for all that his name did not begin “Tim and…” he marked his final hurrah at Wimbledon against Andy Roddick with a spectacular meltdown when a spectator dared to call a ball out and the umpire refused to replay the point. “Some wanker in the crowd changed the whole match and you allowed it to happen,” Greg railed in proximity to the BBC microphone he would later grace. “Well done. Absolute shit.” Henman Hill, cover your ears. Watch a video of the dispute here Photograph: Clive Brunskill/Getty Images
