Sore loser?

Finger-waving Nalbandian reacts angrily to upset loss

Coutelot's ride PARIS, May 29 (Reuters) -- French qualifier Nicolas Coutelot knows the downside of being a struggling professional tennis player. After his first-round win over Italian Davide Sanguinetti, the Frenchman, ranked 208th in the world, discussed his financial problems at length. "They all believe we drive Porsches. But come with me to the car park. You'll see the car I'm driving," he said. He jokingly mentioned his car again after beating Nalbandian. "Everybody has asked me about my upcoming Porsche. I think I can afford possibly part of it if the tax servers leave me alone." Coutelot reached the third round in Paris two years ago and said at the time he had financial problems while on the circuit. "I went through difficulties for years and I played in lousy tournaments, slept in lousy hotels, had no money, bad meals," he said in 2001. On Thursday, the 26-year-old said his situation had not improved. "It's true that when you go through months without making a penny and you spend a lot of money, some people come up and say, 20,000 euros, wow ... "I didn't come here to make money. If there's 20,000 or 30,000 euros in the third round, if you want to look at my bank account and the expenses I've been having since the beginning of the year, I can tell you those 30,000 euros are gone," he said. Coutelot meets compatriot Arnaud Clement in the third round.

PARIS (AP) -- Argentina's David Nalbandian reacted in anger Thursday after Frenchman Nicolas Coutelot beat him 6-3, 6-3, 4-6, 2-6, 6-1 to advance to the French Open third round.

Shortly after shaking hands with Coutelot, Nalbandian then waved his finger at him and the pair stood face-to-face for over a minute in what appeared to be a heated argument.

Nalbandian had contested the umpire's line call in the seventh game of the final set, with Coutelot serving for the match. The call went against Nalbandian who, trailing 0-30 and close to defeat, smashed his racket into the ground.

The racket bounced up and almost hit Nalbandian in the face. He then changed rackets and prepared to face Coutelot's serve.

Coutelot, however, complained to the umpire that Nalbandian should have been penalized.

"He broke three rackets today and didn't have a warning, or a penalty point," Coutelot, ranked 173rd, said. "I went to the umpire because it's a rule. It's true that in tournaments they don't always follow rules the same way."

"I just ask, you know, if we can break two, three, four rackets, tell me, because I'm going to enjoy it too," he added.

In the sixth game of the last set, Nalbandian again showed his discontent, aggressively snatching a towel from the hands of a ball-boy.

Coutelot insisted that the heated discussion with Nalbandian -- who left the court to boos -- would not affect the pair's friendship.

"David is a good friend of mine, he'll understand," Coutelot said.

 

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