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British tennis has enjoyed a fair degree of success in recent years but one thing it has lacked is controversy. That's now changed after Stockport-born player Naomi Broady was involved in a heated exchange with Latvian Jelena Ostapenko at the ASB Classic in Auckland.
Emotions rose in the second set when, following a winning shot from Broady, her opponent's racket flew out of her hand and hit a ball boy. The British number three demanded Ostapenko be disqualified, saying she had thrown the racket, but after a long delay and plenty of discussion between both players and officials, play continued.
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Broady went on to win the set to make it 1-1 but, as the New Zealand Herald reports, "there was obvious animosity between the players for the rest of the match".
There was also plenty of tension in the deciding third set as Broady saved two match points to recover from 5-1 down and win 7-5. That was not the end of events, however, as the row boiled over again at the net.
"After a cursory handshake, the duo continued to snipe at each other before the umpire stepped in and Ostapenko left the court," reports the Herald.
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Broady was unapologetic afterwards. "Jelena commented that my behaviour was terrible, which I thought was a bit out of order considering the events that had gone on in the match. I don't think I did anything disrespectful to her or anyone else on the court," she told journalists.
There was support from other tennis figures on Twitter, although not everyone was in favour of her decision to complain about her opponent's behaviour.
The tournament in New Zealand is proving something of a landmark event for Broady, ranked 121st in the world. She claimed the scalp of world number 16 Ana Ivanovic in the first round, the biggest win of her career, and now faces fifth seed Sloane Stephens in the quarter-finals.
