Nalbandian Loses AEGON Championships to Cilic Due to DQ
June 18, 2012 | By Long Island Tennis Magazine Staff
The 10th-seeded David Nalbandian of Argentina was leading in the second set Sunday at the AEGON Championships at the Queen’s Club in London, England when his anger got the best of him and cost him both the match and title due to a disqualification. The Argentine had been leading the sixth-seeded Marin Cilic of Croatia, 7-6(3), 3-4 in the grass-court Wimbledon warm-up when Nalbandian kicked a small barrier surrounding the line judge in anger and a piece of the barrier hit the judge, causing bleeding on his left shin. After checking on the line judge, the chair umpire decided to end the match. ATP rules state that any violent action will result in an automatic default.
”Sometimes you get very frustrated on court and it’s tough to control that, and sometimes I do a mistake. So it’s very tough to end a final like that,” Nalbandian said. ”But sometimes, we feel so much pressure from the ATP to play a lot of tournaments. They don’t do anything (for) us, and today I made a mistake and I have to pay like that."
Nalbandian was playing his first final on grass since losing to Lleyton Hewitt at Wimbledon 10 years ago. He was bidding to become the first player from Argentina to capture an ATP grass court title since Javier Frana won at Nottingham in 1995. Nalbandian’s last title came in Washington in August 2010.
”It’s definitely not the way I wanted to win it,” Cilic said. ”The match was still open, but I can’t change it. I’m sorry for the (spectators) that it had to end like this."
