“Yikes, this needs a big suspension” Martina Navratilova shocked by ITF’s teenager slaps opponent upon losing


“Yikes, this needs a big suspension” Martina Navratilova shocked by ITF’s teenager slaps opponent upon losing

Michael slapping Raphael, Martina Navratilova

Former World No. 1 and arguably one of the greatest ever to play the game, Martina Navratilova became the latest to give her opinion on the recent incident that took place at an ITF event on Wednesday, 5th April 2022. At the ongoing ITF Juniors in Ghana, upon losing, top-seeded player Michael Koumane of France slapped his opponent Raphael Nii Ankrah of Ghana.

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The Twitter user who originally shared the video of the incident later posted the message put by Koumane saying how abuses were hurled at him and his family throughout the match caused his anger, but he was sorry for what he did. Although the authenticity of the message is questionable, it certainly was a bad day for the tournament if indeed the teen was abused. The incident on the court escalated very quickly as a mass brawl started with security forced to intervene and separate the involved participants in the fight.

With the incident going viral quickly, many former players have expressed their shock and disbelief over the incident with what happened. Many have been linked to the increased violent outbursts of players on the Tour including the likes of Nick Kyrgios and Alexander Zverev who have been fined heavily in the recent past for various acts of ‘unsportsmanlike conduct’ as per the ATP Code of Conduct for the players.

Martina was tagged in a tweet by TV News Executive Producer Allen Fetters who also tagged the ATP Tour saying “Here comes the ‘nextgen’.” Martina responded to it by saying, “He needs a big suspension, to say the least.”

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“This is just horrible”: Martina Navratilova on the incident

Martina Navratilova
Martina Navratilova

With a young player involved in such a violent outburst on losing a match, Martina was taken aback by the incident. “Yikes. This is just horrible!!! And not acceptable,” said Martina having earlier tagged the ATP Tour’s official handle as well. The ITF and ATP are however yet to announce any action against the teenager for his violent action.

With the ATP recently announcing their decision to take stronger action against these incidents, one will have to wait what changes does the body actually brings to its current policy under which players have not feared fighting with the umpire, smashing their racquets and breaking ATP’s Code of Conduct easily.

Also Read: “What a selfless guy” Novak Djokovic stops to teach young kids tennis in the streets while taking his dog for a walk