'MH' was referring to the way young Alex De Minaur of Australia, ( as apparently he is now a fully fledged Aussie ) was giving Rafa the 'C'MON' after several mistakes from the Spanish legend's racket.
Almost on cue, the great Boris Becker who is commentating at Wimbledon this year shaded my text from MH by saying the same thing, though in his own words. Boris found the whole thing rather bizarre as most tennis players go by an unwritten rule of never applauding an opponent's mistake.
Any one who owns a hint of intelligence is aware that in sport you must remain humble and if you are going to spend time around the greats of the game it would be wise to show respect, unless of course you are not interested in anyone except yourself.
Lleyton Hewitt springs to mind.
It's all very well to become World number 1 however I doubt very much that anyone will ever mention Hewitt in the same breath as Rafa or Roger because their attitudes were and still are Worlds apart.
The Australian Open of 2005 was a tournament where Hewitt forgot about the rest of the career in front of him on the World tour and went about getting himself offside with the whole of Argentina.
Remember there will come a day in your life as a Tennis Professional where you may in fact have to travel to South America to play Davis Cup.
Now that would be intimidating for anyone let alone a player who is disliked in that Country.
Here's the evidence.
At the Australian Open in 2005 Juan Ignecia Chela was so incensed at Hewitt's antics that he spat in his direction at a change of ends.
The following is part of a transcript of the match that was written in 'The Age' Newspaper on January 23, 2005.
"Down two sets to one, broken to love and facing a 0-3 deficit in what became the deciding fourth set, Chela appeared to get upset when Hewitt yelled "c'mon" after his opponent hit an unforced error to go down 0-40, and appeared to serve the next ball directly at the No. 3 seed.
He spat towards Hewitt after the Australian muttered something in his opponent's direction as they moved to change ends. The Argentine's aggravation came after Hewitt's second-round opponent, James Blake, was moved to mock Hewitt's celebratory gestures."
Sound familiar ?
Fast forward to the Quarter Final, Aussie Open 2005 where Hewitt took on David Nalbandian, and once again he took on Argentina.
At a change of ends the two players rubbed shoulders though if you take a look at the replay of it you will clearly see that Nalbandian walks off court first, around the net post. It is Hewitt who does not give way, instead he decides to nudge past the Argentinian who took exception to the Aussie's lack of etiquette.
Did I say 'lack of etiquette' ?
Last night Rafa stood at three set points up in the second set when De Minaur broke a string. The following effort from the young Aussie had lack of etiquette written all over it.
A rather casual walk to his bag to grab another racket followed by another leisurely stroll back to the baseline without so much as a hand in the air or a 'sorry' had shades of Hewitt written all over it.
Did I mention Lleyton Hewitt is now days regarded as Alex De Minaur's mentor ?
Wouldn't have picked it.
Rewind.
Davis Cup Australia versus Argentina July 2005 . As if the Hewitt vs Argentina circus wasn't enough at Melbourne Park in January it was rather ironic that Argentina travelled to Australia to take on Hewitt and his attitude in July of the same year in Davis Cup.
The opening match between Hewitt and Guillermo Coria was rather farcical to say the least though here is what Coria had to say about Hewitt after the match " You really feel like killing him".
This was in regards to Coria's accusations that Hewitt was openly cheering his mistakes.
Is 'C'mon' really the thing to say out loud when an opponent misses a ball ?
Personally I find it inspiring.
I played a local competition two seasons ago when I was a rather unfit 48 year old up against a 15 year old who hit so many winners against me that I lost count, yet I won.
How ?
Well it was like this, one of the kid's 'fan club' members, an even younger kid than him had a rather annoying habit of applauding my mistakes, though he hid it rather cleverly by saying 'great shot' to his mate even when I hit an unforced error ( I hit plenty ).
I thought to myself that there is only one way to shut the fan club up, win the match, which I did.
Sorry I get distracted when I write.
Some players such as Juan Ignecia Chela and Guillermo Coria quite possibly beat themselves as they did in 2005 against a player who simply got under their skin with his histrionics that were quite possibly contrived rather than being spontaneous.
Here's another for you, Davis Cup 2006, Argentina vs Australia in Buenos Aires, Argentina.
( Did I mention earlier in this post that you need to be careful in a sport such as tennis as you never know when you may have to play Argentina in Argentina ?? )
"Hewitt seems to think that he's come to Iraq; that they are
going to plant a bomb," Argentinian Davis Cup player Jose Acasuso
said this week of Hewitt employing two personal bodyguards for the
tie. As the most hated sports personality in Argentina, Hewitt is
naturally a little bit nervous about the Davis Cup semi-final.
David Nalbandian put it succinctly: "Nobody is a friend of
him."
( Courtesy of the Sydney Morning Herald )
In that particular Davis Cup Tie the South Americans pummelled Australia 5-0 with Jose Acasuso downing Hewitt 6-1 in the fifth set in the second match.
I have seen some Rock Concerts in my time and this match reminded me of Jon Bon Jovi versus a street busker with the latter no match for the Rock Star who lapped up the crowd adulation, particularly in the final set where emotion took over.
So back to the De Minaur/ Hewitt 'mentorship'.
Adolfo Gutierrez by all reports coached Alex in Spain for around ten years, give or take a year. Lleyton Hewitt is now regarded as Alex De Minaur's 'mentor'.
Alex should not forget who taught him to play tennis and it is NOT Lleyton Hewitt.
It's all very well to get caught up in the hype of being associated with former World Number ones etc but a player should never forget who took the time to show them how a ball is hit.
Rafa I am sure was not thrilled with certain aspects of Alex's demeanor ( pardon the pun ) and I am quite certain that not many players have yelled C'MON at the Spaniard's errors over a career that has netted him 17 Grand Slams.
However, just like a 48 year old 'tennis nobody' from Albany ,Western Australia did in a local comp' two seasons ago, there's one way to shut the player and the peanut gallery up.
Win the match, that usually does the trick...…...
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