The Babysitters Club

by Savannah

I apologize to the author of the above mentioned series. None of the girls portrayed in that series were the kind who, when they didn't get their way, would pick up their marbles, or dolls, or whatever, scream "you don't like me!" and go home. Yet in two instances so far this spring American men who play tennis have pulled stunts you would expect a six year old to pull.

I've already talked about Big Baby Sam Querrey who, after a loss in Paris, said he had to go home. I read elsewhere that he complained about the food. Only a spoiled American brat would complain about the food in Paris. Today though he is joined in Babyworld by Mardy Fish. The stunt he pulled today may rank as one of the all time worst things done by a male tennis player. (Of course Justine Henin owns the one for female players. She's the one who complained of indigestion and then hung around the court without ever going to a bathroom in Melbourne in case you forgot. There's the hand incident too but she's in a class by herself.)

Back to Mardy Fish and his antics at Queens Club this evening. Mardy had surprisingly won the first set over Andy Murray and promptly lost the second. He was up 3-0 in the third set but to his credit Murray fought back and leveled the third and deciding set at three games all. I saw Fish start to whine at the chair umpire Cedric Mourier of France and figured, since it was about 8:30p in England he was complaining about the light. I also saw Andy Murray standing on his baseline ready to resume play. I guess I can be excused for thinking play would resume since only one player was complaining. At no time was Murray consulted as to how he felt on the matter. Lo and behold the next thing I, and the fans in the stadium knew, Fish was gone and play had been suspended. Murray stood, hands on hips, on the court for several minutes in total shock. When he finally moved he ripped Cedric and the tournament referee. Unfortunately the mikes were off.

The BBC posted the following from Murray's presser.

The score was locked at 4-6 6-1 3-3 when Fish appealed to umpire Cedric Mourier to stop the match and resume tomorrow because of the gloomy conditions at Queen's.

Mourier agreed and Fish gathered his equipment and walked off without a word, leaving a bemused Murray stood on the baseline ready to continue.
When the Scottish third seed realised what had happened, he approached Mourier to complain at the decision before also confronting supervisor Tom Barnes.

"Mardy says he doesn't want to play so we stop playing. The referee didn't consult anyone," Murray said on Centre Court.
"That came out of nowhere. The weather was absolutely fine. It's ridiculous.
"The only reason he wanted to stop was because it was 3-3."

Anyone who reads this space regularly knows I'm not an Andy Murray fan but right is right. I mean London and Paris are not that far apart geographically and we all know how late play goes there. It is true that the dew on the grass could make conditions unfit for play as the evening wears on but that wasn't what the complaint was here. Even though Fish had slipped already on the wet grass he chose to complain about the lights, or lack thereof.

I wonder how the Grand Poobah's of American tennis journalism are going to handle this one. There was barely of mention of Big Baby Sam's actions. Fish acted in full public view. I'm sure they'll emphasize that he really meant the grass.

I think the American men need people to look after them. You know, babysitters.