Daniel Koellerer
Koellerer has the dubious distinction of being the first tennis player banned from the sport for life for match-fixing after being found guilty of three charges, including attempting to contrive the outcome of an event. After his removal, he issued incendiary comments in which he accused ATP of behaving like mafia. Besides, he also accused Rafael Nadal of consuming doping drugs and David Ferrer of being a heavy smoker.
He also said that match-fixing was something very common in tennis because this was an easy way for a player to get some extra money.
The dominance of the big 3 in tennis
Jimmy Connors
Connors still holds three prominent Open Era men’s singles records: 109 titles, 1,557 matches played, and 1,274 match wins. Only the Great Roger Federer is close with 103 ATP singles titles.
Connors legendary competitive behaviour was always entertaining, regular outbursts against the chair umpire, the public, giving the finger to linesmen after disagreeing with a calls or strutting about the court with the tennis racket handle between his legs. This created a persona that was both loved and hated by the tennis world.
Connors starred in one of the most exciting rivalries ever in tennis. His matches against McEnroe in which every single match was an intense battle of egos and regular rage. Nearly every match became a highly entertaining pantomime – shouting at the umpire and lines people, arguing, trash talk and of course racket smashing. But don’t let the entertainment value fool you, there was amazing tennis too.
John McEnroe
To say that confrontational on-court behaviour frequently landed McEnroe in trouble with umpires and tennis authorities is putting it very mildly! McEnroe became very famous for his constant outbursts during matches, and these fits of rage against umpires and linesmen would often help his game.
Biggest tennis stadiums in the world
The word’s “You cannot be serious” became synonymous with the Big Mac. His craziness was his trademark but it often resulted in getting penalty points or even the disqualification because of his abuse to match officials.
Ilie Nastase
Năstase is one of the ten players in history who have won more than 100 ATP professional titles (62 singles and 45 in doubles). But he wasn’t just prolific in ATP titles, nicknamed “Nasty,” he claimed to have slept with more than two thousand women.
When on court he used to talk with the public, smash rackets, throw balls against the umpires and shout abuse. One of the most controversial moments occurred when he was about to play with the legendary Arthur Ashe in a doubles match, and he entered with his face painted in black, receiving tremendous disapproval from the public.