There are many ways by which tennis players release emotions on a tennis court, but the most detestable is probably breaking a racket.
To support this point, you only need to listen to the crowd and how badly received this action is. A chorus of boos swiftly follows, and the chair umpire would issue a code violation for racket abuse. For club players, breaking a tennis racket places a financial burden on them as they need to purchase a new one.
The ATP states in its 2022 rulebook that professional players would be subjected to a fine of up to $500 for each violation of racket and equipment abuse. Australia's Nick Kyrgios is a name that stands out when discussions about racket smashing are thrown up.
Recently, Kyrgios shared his opinion about the topic on air while serving as a temporary analyst for Tennis Channel's coverage of the ATP Finals. Tempers can boil over in tennis matches, but Kyrgios only realized how abhorrent it is to be breaking rackets in front of multiple fans watching around the world.
Taking a bird's eye view of proceedings has given him a different outlook of some of his actions and he opined that there should not be any leniency for breaking rackets and players should be penalized for it.
"I think there’s got to be levels to it. If you see on the screen there, some are not great. I think code violation and fine, however much the tournament was to fine me. I think there has to be a penalty for it. Now, I understand how many people are watching, and I am a role model to youth. So I never condoned the behavior."
"At the time I'm just frustrated. There definitely should be a penalty. The ATP has fines for that. I've paid for all of them by the way. I've never not paid any fine. I've given back. Last year, I only broke one racket. So it's not too bad."
Kyrgios' record for the most rackets broken in one sitting is three during a three-set defeat to Borna Coric at the Cincinnati Masters in 2016. In 2019, he was fined a record $113,000 by the ATP for multiple offenses including destroying a pair of rackets in a match against Karen Khachanov, also in Cincinnati.
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