By Chris Oddo | Thursday, April 17, 2014
Fabio Fognini lost his mind then lost the match against Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in Monte-Carlo on Thursday. Will things ever change for the Italian?
Photo Source: AP
There really is no way to defend Fabio Fognini's actions during his 5-7, 6-3, 6-0 loss to Jo-Wilfried Tsonga at the Monte-Carlo Rolex Masters.
Fognini on Reaching Top Ten: "It's Not my Problem"
Sure, excuses can be made: Things clearly didn't go Fognini's way in the second set as he spoiled six break point chances that would have put him on the fast track to a straight-sets victory over the Frenchman. He just couldn't make good on his chances, and the two bad calls that went against him--one that negated what probably would have been a break point-saving serve out wide—couldn't have been easy to swallow.
But still, no excuses can be made.
Because Fognini has been here and done this before. He's made tough situations worse for himself, turned the crowd against him, and walked off the court to smatterings of boos and whistles before. But why?
Well, because he's a head case (albeit an entertaining one that, at heart, is a good guy), and sadly it doesn't appear to be something he can change.
Elite tennis players take bad situations and calmly find ways to extricate themselves from them. Fognini, on the other hand, seems content to blow bad situations out of proportion and spend prolonged, unproductive periods of time letting his mind melt into buffoonery.
Not that it isn't entertaining—it most certainly is (at least to some)—but Fognini's clown games are particularly disturbing these days because it has become clear in the last year just how talented the Italian can be. If he was a journeyman, whittling away his time outside the top 50, his episodes would be more welcome, because he'd have little else to offer to the fans.
But Fognini, a wildly talented and imaginative shotmaker, and an absolute genius on the clay, has so much more than antics on offer. For those reasons, it's sad to see that the volatile Italian can't manage the two sides of his personality, perhaps in the same fashion that John McEnroe did.
What was so maddening about Fognini's antics today (he begged vociferously to have a certain linesperson removed from the court, smashed a racquet, taunted himself, hurled obscenities at his father and cursed officials and members of the crowd, to name a few) was that, ultimately, he quit on the match. As bad and as offensive as McEnroe used to be, quitting is one thing we would never see him do.
In over reacting to the set of circumstances that forced Fognini to lose the second set on Thursday (most of which were his own poor play), the Italian completely let his focus slip. He tried for a bit in the decider—and it didn't help matters that Tsonga was red-lining his game and making everything he went for, mind you—but eventually, by the fourth game, Fognini had completely quit on the match. Furthermore, he seemed to relish that fact, flaunting it for all the world to see.
That was where this writer, a longtime supporter of the fabulous Fognini, had to draw the line.
Naturally, by the time Tsonga had bageled Fognini in the decider, the crowd had no other option but to boo and taunt him as he exited stage left. If he had kept his will to win, all of his antics would have been forgiven (they already are by most). It was the quitting on the match that really ticked the fans off, and ultimately will hurt Fognini's reputation as his career progresses (endorsement deals, doubles partners--who wants in?).
It was a tough day for Fognini, but maybe, just maybe, it will be something that he can learn from. This is, after all, a player that features a photo of himself in the act of smashing a racquet as his Twitter avatar. Maybe he can take a good, hard look in the mirror and finally realize that he is going to have to grow up if he wants to be the first Italian man to crack the ATP's top ten in over 35 years. He certainly has the talent to make it, but he must control his mind to see it to fruition.
Here are some of the reactions we found on Twitter from the match. Read at your own peril...
But not everybody was angry with Fognini. Both Tsonga and Rafael Nadal came to his rescue...(though naturally, they don't want to discourage Fognini to handing matches to them...)
Maybe in the end, this tweet summed it up the best: