This seems to be the month of non-handshakes.
A week ago, Canada's Eugenie Bouchard was in the headlines after refusing to shake hands with Romania's Alexandra Dulgheru at the draw for their Fed Cup tie.
Last Friday, Spain’s Guillermo-Garcia Lopez did the same, snubbing Lukas Rosol’s extended hand following his straight sets win at the Bucharest quarter-final.
The Spaniard, who went on to win the title, was apparently upset about Rosol’s antics, which included repeatedly complaining to the chair umpire that Garcia-Lopez was taking too much time between points.
Of course, this was not the first time a tennis player has refused to shake hands with his opponent after a match. There have been more than a few. Here is our list of five of the worst:
Thomas Muster, 1997 French Open
A second-round clash between two feisty characters came to an inevitable conclusion.
Muster refused to acknowledge Jeff Tarango after his four-set win, walking straight towards his kit bag.
RELATED:
COMMENT: Eugenie Bouchard shows petulance, not poise in handshake rebuff
COMMENT: No telling how long Novak Djokovic will remain unbeatable after early-season big title sweep
The American followed him to his seat and stretched his hand out again, but Muster looked away.
Ranked No 5 in the world at the time, Muster was upset because Tarango kept imitating his grunting and iron-man walk, and berating the umpire about line calls.
Tarango, of course, was known as the devil of tennis, most famous for storming off the court at Wimbledon in 1995, defaulting his third-round match.
Karol Novacek, 1992 French Open
Having won the opening-round clash in five sets, Derrick Rostagno, who is a lawyer now, critiqued Novacek’s behaviour in the match as the two met at the net for the traditional handshake.
The Czech, upset about losing the match, did not take kindly to the criticism of his conduct and landed a punch on Rostagno’s chest.
Patty Schnyder, 2004 Charleston
Irritated by Conchita Martinez’s habit of requesting the same ball after winning a point, Schnyder refused to shake hands after losing 6-2, 6-3 in the semis, and gave the Spanish veteran a piece of her mind and, according to court observers, the conversation included the a fairly strong pejorative.
Martinez made another effort to shake hands as they walked off the court, but she was snubbed a second time.
Tomas Berdych, 2012 Australian Open
The Czech was booed off the court following his fourth-round victory over Nicolas Almagro after he refused to shake hands with the Spaniard.
Berdych was upset about a point 10 minutes earlier when an off-balance Almagro had hit a forehand into his body.
Berdych thought it was dirty, but the fans disagreed and let him know that.
Carlos Bernardes, 2015 Paris Masters
One of the most combustible players of this generation, Fabio Fognini regularly gets into duels with chair umpires such as Bernardes.
Last October, the Brazilian arbiter decided to put the Italian in his place, refusing to shake hands with the player after his straight-sets loss to No 176 Lucas Pouille.
The umpire let Fognini know he had no right to insult him as the two argued before eventually reaching a truce.
Follow us on Twitter @NatSportUAE
