[sportbos]

Front Row: Here's A Way To Temper The Tempers

Edited by Larry Harris

With crowd-pleasing tennis stars Serena Williams and Roger Federer winning to conclude the U.S. Open and the sad recent passing of golf hall of famer Terrible Tommy Bolt, it seems an appropriate time to re-examine the fine old stately, sophisticated sporting arts of racket-smashing and club-throwing.

A whole bunch of players got fined $500 for smashing rackets in New York over the past two weeks, even mild-mannered Lindsay Davenport. On the men's side, Nikolay Davydenko managed to bash four in one match and in doing so set a shining example for young Chris Harrison.

Harrison threw his racket so many times during a loss that U.S. Open officials sent a guy down to tell him he was despoiling the advertising signs surrounding the court. Harrison, playing in the junior division of the tournament, is 14.

Athletes have a lot more money today, so it doesn't cost nearly as much to make a donkey of oneself on the tennis court as it used to. Then too, those old Jack Kramer wooden cudgels didn't shatter nearly as impressively as today's models that are made of all sorts of miracle materials.

Husky Andy Roddick, who actually once won a major, is pretty much regarded as the king of American racket tossers. A powerful man whose serves regularly clock over 140 mph, Roddick has no trouble smashing his rackets and even can justify his actions.

"If a guy wants to break a bat in the dugout, he doesn't get warned; it's not hurting anyone," Roddick told The Associated Press. "If it's affecting your opponent, then that's probably disrespectful, then keep it out of there. But it's my racket, not anybody else's."

http://www.pressboxonline.com/story.cfm?id=4094