WATCH: Soonwoo Kwon declines handshake before smashing his racket to pieces after losing in the Asian Games 2023
Kwon Soonwoo's behavior after his shocking defeat at the 2023 Asian Games leaves the entire tennis world in despair.
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Kwon Soon-woo smashing his racquet on the ground after the Asian Games matchup. (credits: South China Morning Post, The Korean Times)
South Korean tennis player Kwon Soon-woo is now battling it out at the 2023 Asian Games for a chance to win a gold medal for his country. But things took a different toll on World No. 112, as he saw his chances get thrashed by a much more depleted opponent in Samrej Kasidit. The Thailand player is currently ranked 636 in the world, and he shocked everyone by beating Soonwoo in the second round.
Kwon was very disappointed with his performance, which saw him end on the losing side with a scoreline of 6-3, 5-7, 6-4. He thereby lost his coolness and smashed his tennis racquet on the ground out of desperation and disappointment after losing against a player who was 500 places below him in terms of rankings. Kwon got extremely out of control and went on to hit the racquet against the chair after the match.
That’s not all; he even refused to shake hands with both the chair umpire and his opponent, Samrej Kasidit and was seen leaving the court right after that. He wasted no time staying on the court and picked up his kit bag, trying to walk out of the stadium, only to be stopped by one of the ball boys who escorted him to the exit. Samrej tried to crack a conversation with him before he left, but Kwon was not at all interested in being consoled at that moment.
How has Kwon Soon-woo looked so far this year?
Kwon Soon-woo has suffered from various injuries from time to time, which have kept him out of the tennis court for an adequate time. Apart from that, he has also considerably dropped down the rankings due to his inability to perform in the last couple of months.
He started the year on a high at the Adelaide International 2 after two months of recovery from injury, managing a runners-up finish and losing to Roberto Bautista-Agut.
However, since then, it has been a very dry road for the South Korean star, as he has seen himself knocked out of the first rounds in the majority of tournaments he has participated in. It was at the Asian Games that he expected to finally grab a piece of gold, but having suffered a loss in just the second round, he was absolutely gutted with anger.
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Soumyadeep Mondal
(882 Articles Published)