Mirra Andreeva hurled her racket towards the umpire’s chair after crashing out of Wimbledon in a match disrupted when Harry Kane scored England’s winner at the World Cup.
Andreeva, the French Open champion, was furious after losing 4-6, 7-5, 6-4 to two-time grand-slam winner Barbora Krejcikova on Centre Court.
In an incident-packed contest, Andreeva complained repeatedly to the umpire that Krejcikova deserved a hindrance call after undergoing treatment in the dressing room during a second-set medical time-out.
After losing that set, Andreeva appeared to shout towards her team, saying: “I don’t need it, I don’t want to hear it.”
In the deciding set, she called in vain for a point to be replayed after ripping her bracelet, scattering beads behind the baseline.
And she looked bewildered when the crowd cheered after she sent a backhand long at the same time Kane scored the winning goal for England against Democratic Republic of Congo.
The match culminated in Andreeva tossing her racket in the direction of her – and the umpire’s – chair after a final forehand sailed out.
Annabel Croft, analysing the incident for the BBC, said: “Mirra Andreeva has just smashed her racket. If that was a wooden box, it would’ve been smashed to smithereens – but it was smashed into her racket bag. She is absolutely seething as she grabs her towel. It is almost like she couldn’t walk any quicker off this court right now.”
Andreeva later broke down in tears during her press conference, saying: “Sorry. Yeah, it’s going to take some time, maybe a couple of days, and then I’m going to be back to practise for hard courts. I don’t know what my next tournaments are going to be. I still need to talk to my team to see where I’m going to play next.
“She [Krejcikova] played well today. She’s a tricky opponent, especially to play against on grass. She changes the rhythm a lot. The slices and drop shots, here they stay low, they don’t bounce. I’ve had some trouble with that as well.
“A lot of mistakes today, also. Yeah, she played well, but I felt like I could have also played better. That’s it.”