Wimbledon Championships: Five of the biggest on court meltdowns

This year marks the tournament’s 140th birthday

John McEnroe has always courted controversy (Getty)

As the world’s oldest tennis tournament, it is understandable that a few of the sport's most famous outbursts, tantrums and full-blown player meltdowns have happened on the lawns at the Wimbledon Championships.

This year marks the tournament’s 140^th birthday, which has been celebrated by Google with a new animated doodle, showing two tennis rackets playing each other at the game.

And as this years’ contenders kick off the first day of matches, we take a look at some of the biggest meltdowns by players on court at Wimbledon.

John McEnroe 1981

John McEnroe has had more than one temper tantrum on court. He’s been filmed shouting at umpires on countless occasions, calling one a “jerk” and another “pathetic”, he’s thrown his racket or used it to knock dramatically knock things over. But he is perhaps best known for shouting this line at an umpire during a match in 1981: “You can’t be serious, man. You cannot be serious! That ball was on the line!"

Jeff Tarango 1995

American Jeff Tarango made Wimbledon history in 1995 when he became the first player to walk off court during a match. After telling a heckling crowd to “shut up”, he was served a code violation before he started arguing with the umpire. Tarango declared he would not play anymore before calling the umpire “the most corrupt official in the game”. He picked up his equipment and walked off court.

Greg Rusedski 2003

Defeated in the second round by Andy Roddick, tennis star Greg Rusedski was fined £1,500 for an expletive outburst in which he hurled abuse at the umpire when he mistakenly thought a call from the crowd had instead come from a linesman. His swearing was caught clearly on television and he later apologised for his language.

Nick Kyrgios 2015

Australian tennis star Nick Kyrgios is known for his outbursts on court and has received more than one code violation, but one controversial incident happened on court in 2015 during a match against Diego Schwartzman. Kyrgios got into a heated discussion with the umpire and was heard saying “dirty scum”, which he later claimed was directed at himself.

Nick Kyrgios' Wimbledon campaign is over (Getty)

Victor Troicki 2016

In a match against Albert Ramos-Vinolas, Serbian tennis star Victor Troiki screamed when his opponent was awarded a match point, which he believed was out.

He then grabbed the ball and ran over to the umpire, shouting: “No white, look at it! Come on, please, look at it!” before calling the chair “the worst umpire ever in the world!”