Spaniard Fernando Verdasco has harvested harsh criticism for his disrespectful “Hopp, Hopp” action against a ball child at the ATP tournament in Shenzhen. You’re right! It was not the first time, by the way, that a routine person with such behaviour attracted negative attention.
Verdasco is one of the veterinarians on the ATP tour. Actually, after more than 15 years in the professional business and almost 16 million dollars of prize money earned, nothing should disturb the world rankings-28 so quickly. Far from it. In his lost semi-final at Shenzhen, fifth seed Verdasco showed himself from an arrogant side.
In the match against the Japanese qualifier Yoshihito Nishioka (6:1, 3:6, 6:7) the Spaniard had the feeling that the towel had not been brought to him fast enough between a rally. The responsible ball child was then opened up by Verdasco.
What’s more, the 34-year-old clearly indicated that next time the boy should please move a little faster in his direction. Chop, chop!!!
The gesture of disrespect was hard to beat. No wonder she triggered a little shitstorm in the social media. “Not cool at all”, twittered US icon Chris Evert, for example – and provided a video of the scene. With “disgusting”, some critics described the outburst for which Verdasco received an admonition from the chair referee.
And the Madrilenean, who in 2009 reached seventh place in the ATP ranking, is a repeat offender. In his first round match at the tournament in Hamburg this year against the Serbian Dusan Lajovic, he threw his towel with plenty of taste towards the ball child – knowing full well that this could not catch the “projectile” at all. Which seemed pretty impudent and cheeky.
Verdasco has the reputation of a macho, especially with the colleagues on the tour. Some describe him behind closed doors as “he’s a rooster”. The left-handed player, who was once associated with the players Ana Ivanovic and Gisela Dulko, likes to train “topless” for his life – and makes no secret of his vanity.
Verdasco, 2009 Australian Open semi-finalist, comes from a privileged parental home. Two hardcourts belonged to the family estate, where little Fernando learned to play tennis at the age of four from his dad, who owns several restaurants.