Wimbledon, On This Day: When Jeff Tarango defaulted himself out in 1995
Wimbledon is one of the most prestigious tennis tournaments in the world. Every player dreams of competing at the grass Major at the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club in London.
However, 30 years ago, in one of the most extraordinary moments at The Championships, a player defaulted himself out of the tournament.
USA’s Jeff Tarango was up against Allexander Mronz of Germany in a third-round men’s singles match on Court 13. Mronz bagged the opener and had a 2-1 lead in the second set when the left-handed American, serving at 15-30, had an argument with chair umpire Bruno Rebeuh over what he thought should have been an ace on a wide serve but wasn’t given.
“No, no, it was an ace. I’ve seen it on TV a million times, that’s an ace,” said Tarango but the umpire didn’t change the ‘out’ call.
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Tarango made the second serve but lost the point with a wide backhand which led to two break points for the German. Clearly annoyed by the audience cheering for Mronz, the American yelled “Oh, shut up!”
The chair umpire awarded him a code violation warning for “audible obscenity”.
Tarango went up to the chair umpire and said, “How come they (audience) can say whatever they want to me? Will you call the supervisor please, I have a big beef.”
Tarango did get to speak to the tournament supervisor and was ready to resume the match. However, before playing any further, he said, “You (Rebeuh) are the most corrupt official in the game and you can’t do that!”
The French umpire gave him another code violation for “verbal abuse” which resulted in a point penalty and therefore, the game going to Mronz. Tarango had had enough. “No way! That’s it,” shouted the American, threw the two balls he had in his right hand on the court, picked his bag up and left the court.
The drawa, however, was not over yet. As Tarango was explaining his side of the story, his wife Benedicte crashed the press conference and claimed that she slapped Rebeuh after the match. “This guy (Rebeuh) deserved a lesson at some point. He can’t do whatever he wants because he is on the chair. It’s just not fair,” she told the media.
In the aftermath, the Grand Slam Committee suspended Tarango for two Majors and also fined him USD 43,756. Even the ATP tour would also give him a USD 20,000 fine. Six months later, Tarango gave a written apology to the committee for his behaviour towards the umpire. His fine was reduced to USD 28,256 and his suspension was limited to Wimbledon 1996.
Tarango’s default had come just a couple of days after the American was on the other side of another controversial moment. Tarango, along with Sweden’s Henrik Holm, was up against Tim Henman and Jeremy Bates. The British pair led by two sets to one and the fourth one was heading towards its conclusion with a tiebreak.
After losing a point at the net cord, Henman took out a ball from his pocked and hit it with full force while a ball-girl, Caroline Hall, was moving to retrieve the balls. The ball hit by Henman smashed the girl in the ear.
As a result, Henman and Bates became the first set of players in Wimbledon’s history to be disqualified from the tournament. In the same edition, Murphy Jensen, another American, was defaulted as he failed to show up for his second-round mixed doubles match.
