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When things go bad, they go really bad. That’s probably what Damir Dzumhur was thinking after getting handcuffed by a blistering Jo-Wilfried Tsonga serve during round of 16 action at the Erste Bank Open in Vienna on Friday.

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The ball landed in Tsonga’s half of the court but a dejected Dzumhur, who had squandered a set lead and was on the brink of extinction at the tournament, had conceded the point and was walking to the other side of the court to get ready for Tsonga’s next serve.

But a strange thing happened as Dzumhur walked. Tsonga muffed the put away swing volley and dumped the ball into the net and then complained to the ump about Dzumhur’s lack of enthusiasm during the point.

The ump took Tsonga’s case and decided to toss a verbal admonishment in Dzumhur’s direction, which clearly didn’t please the Bosnian one bit.

It’s well known that the tour rules frown on tanking, but what was Dzumhur supposed to do on this point? He had no chance if Tsonga did what he normally does with that ball and smashed it into the far corner of a court. Should the point have been conceded to Tsonga then, since Dzumhur’s actions indicated surrender?

It didn’t really matter in the end. Tsonga served out the match and won easily, and the two picked up the conversation at the handshake.


Is there a lesson here? Do players need to at least put up appearances and act like they’re trying, even when they have no chance in a point? Does Dzumhur have a right to be angry? It wasn’t like he was tanking the match or distracting Tsonga, he simply thought he had no chance in the point and was moving on.

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