Serena Williams, John McEnroe, and More: American Tennis Stars Who Courted Controversy at the Australian Open

The 2024 Australian Open starts on January 14, and just like every previous edition of the Grand Slam down under, it promises to compel, excite, and entertain. A whole host of American tennis stars is heading to Melbourne this time around, and historically, Americans have served up countless moments of magic at the tournament. However, there have been several instances where Americans have courted controversy at the Australian Open, and there are a few that will always be remembered (not for the right reasons). Let’s take a microscopic look at the most infamous ones among them.

1. John McEnroe’s abusive rant and subsequent disqualification (1990)

During his playing days, there was no doubting John McEnroe’s genius on the tennis court. However, genius often goes hand-in-hand with madness, and McEnroe’s on-court temperament was wild to say the least. In the fourth round of the 1990 Australian Open, McEnroe faced Sweden’s Mikael Pernfors. The Swede was the clear underdog, and everyone expected McEnroe to sail into the next round comfortably.

However, what should have been a routine win ended in ignominy for McEnroe. It all started when McEnroe leveraged his intimidation tactics on an official, which resulted in a code violation. Not long after his first offense, McEnroe smashed his racket. Unsurprisingly, he was slapped with yet another code violation. The final straw came when McEnroe verbally abused multiple officials in a vicious rant, which included the phrase “Go f*** your mother”. McEnroe was disqualified and Pernfors, to everyone’s surprise including his own, found himself in the next round.

2. Serena Williams’ cryptic response after bizarre twirling request (2015)

The 2015 edition turned out to be memorable for Serena Williams as she clinched her sixth Australian Open crown. However, several rounds before she defeated Maria Sharapova and put her hands on the trophy, she encountered a rather strange request. After her second-round victory against Vera Zvonareva, Ian Cohen, a commentator, bizarrely asked Williams to perform a twirl during the on-court post-match interview. What was even worse was that Williams wasn’t the only WTA star to face this absurd request. Canadian Eugenie Bouchard was requested as well.

While Bouchard didn’t make much of the request, Williams delivered a cryptic response when she was asked about her opinion on the matter by journalists in the post-match press conference. While Williams refused to label Cohen a sexist for his bizarre request, she said, “I wouldn’t ask Rafa or Roger to twirl.”

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3. Venus Williams beads coming undone (1999)

Among the Williams sisters, Serena always found herself surrounded more by controversy than Venus. However, at the 1999 Australian Open, it was surprisingly Venus that found herself in the midst of a bizarre controversy. In happened at the quarterfinal stage, where Venus faced fellow American Lindsay Davenport.

Venus’ hair proved to be the source of the controversy, as a bead strand fell off during the match, not once, but twice. The second time it happened was when Venus felt the wrath of the umpire, who gave her a point penalty. It was a decisive call, as Venus found herself playing catch up to Davenport in the second set. Davenport had already won the first set. Frustrated, Venus began shouting at the umpire and soon after, she took matters all the way to the tournament referee. To Venus’ shock, the referee sided with the umpire, and she could never truly recover. Venus ended up being humiliated 6-0 in the second set and ultimately exited the tournament.

4. Andy Roddick’s outburst (2010)

In the second round of the 2010 Australian Open, hard-hitting American Andy Roddick faced Brazilian Thomaz Bellucci. Roddick won the match comfortably in straight sets. However, towards the end of the third and decisive set, umpire Fergus Murphy made a decision that went against Roddick. It stemmed from a HawkEye challenge initiated by Bellucci, which resulted in the Brazilian winning the point.

Roddick didn’t see eye-to-eye with the umpire’s decision and believed that the point should have been replayed. His temper boiled over after the match, even though he had won, and he lashed out at the umpire with the use of multiple profanities such as “bulls**t” and “f***ing”. To Roddick’s credit, he publicly apologized for his crude behavior during his post-match press conference.

5. Taylor Fritz’s penis problem (2023)

So far, the new generation of American tennis stars has mostly avoided controversy at the Australian Open. However, that changed last year when Taylor Fritz decided to indulge his inner artist after winning his first-round victory against Nikoloz Basilashvili. Before leaving the court, Fritz went to the camera and attempted to repeat compatriots Frances Tiafoe, Jessica Pegula, and Madison Keys’ drawings. All of them drew lock emojis on the camera lens after their respective victories, and Fritz wanted to keep the trend going.

Unfortunately though, Fritz’s drawing looked less like a lock and more like a penis, generating massive controversy. Thankfully, Fritz went into damage control mode later on and took to social media to address tennis fans and wrote, “I just forgot the very important fact that I suck at drawing.”

What do you think? Which one according to you is the most controversial instance of an American making the headlines for all the wrong reasons at the Australian Open? Let us know in the comments below.

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