We’ve all had those moments where we’ve lost our rag on the tennis court. It happens to the best of us.
But for Jeff Tarango, his meltdown happened on one of the biggest stages of all. That was in the Wimbledon Men’s singles in 1995.
The American had a long career that spanned three different decades, from the end of the 1980s right through to officially retiring in 2003, and amassed prize money well north of $3million.
However, his moment of madness at Wimbledon is perhaps what he will always be best known for.
To set the scene, Tarango was playing on court 13 at the All England Club against 117th-ranked German Alexander Mronz.
The American was trailing 7-6 (6), 3-1 and was serving at break point down in that second set when he hit an apparent ace.
The line judge called it out, but it was quickly overruled by chair umpire Bruno Rebeuh. Instead of awarding the point to Tarango, he instead decided on a replay of the point.
This irked Tarango no end and he argued the point with the umpire.
The crowd jeered the American and he turned to them and shouted ‘shut up’, perhaps still harbouring a grudge that Tarango had successfully argued for Tim Henman to be defaulted in the doubles for accidentally striking a ball girl.
The outburst led to a code violation warning from the umpire and that is when Tarango lost it.
He called for the supervisor to raise his concerns and when heading back out to serve he could be heard shouting: “You are the most corrupt official in the game and you can’t do that.”
Unsurprisingly, he was handed yet another violation. This time it led to a point penalty.
This was the moment that Tarango had enough as he packed his bag and left the court.
“No way, that’s it.” Tarango said as he left the court. He became the first player in Wimbledon history to default himself.
That was not the end of the story, however, with things taking a bizarre turn.
Tarango’s wife, Benedicte, gatecrashed his press conference and admitted she had slapped Rebeuh in the face after her husband had left the court.
Benedicte said: “I don’t think it’s bad, I think it’s good. This guy can do whatever he wants because he’s on the chair. Players have nobody to defend them in any situation.”
Jeff Tarango’s face seemingly hinted that he had been unaware of what had transpired on the court after he had left.
Tarango also went on to make a number of accusations against the umpire, including that he favoured certain players.
He later received a fine and was banned from Wimbledon the following year.
In 2014, in an interview for Welovetennis.fr, Tarango stood by his view.
He said: “It’s a chain of suspicious decisions which, if you saw the entire match, could lead to only one conclusion: according to me, the match was fixed.”
Since his retirement, Tarango has worked in the media as an tennis analyst for several different broadcasters.