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Brazilians call John Isner a crier for complaining about Davis Cup fans
John Isner lost his reverse singles match to Thomaz Bellucci, but the U.S. advanced. (Sam Greenwood/Getty Images)
It’s not often you hear players from the host nation complaining about visiting fans, but John Isner didn’t mince words when it came to the rowdy Brazil supporters who were in Jacksonville, Fla., for the Americans’ first-round Davis Cup tie against Brazil. As Tennis.com reports, after losing to Thomaz Bellucci in five sets Sunday, Isner believed the Brazil bench and their fans crossed a line.
“To be honest, I don’t appreciate their fans at all. I don’t think they’re too classy at all,” Isner told reporters. “Not only their actual fans but the guys on their bench are saying stuff, toss the ball up, double fault. I can hear it. It didn’t affect me, it’s just I don’t think there’s any room for that. I’m not going to sugarcoat this as well. I don’t appreciate their fans at all. I think they’re very rude.”
Brazilian captain Joao Zwetsch responded: “I didn’t see that John is not playing his best tennis here probably. Thomaz played really good today. I really didn’t see it could have anything involved in the result of the game, you know. Like we say in Brazil, ‘Cry is free.’ You can cry as much as you want. But Thomaz beat him playing tennis, that’s all.”
Brazilian doubles specialist Marcelo Melo, who along with Bruno Soares handed Mike and Bob Bryan a surprising loss Saturday, took to Twitter to defend their fans. Melo quickly deleted his tweets, but a writer from The New York Times captured the gist:
Last tweet ( twitter.com/marcelomelo83/…) from Marcelo Melo—@marcelomelo83 translated: "Isner should stop crying…This is not professional behavior"—
Ben Rothenberg (@BenRothenberg) February 04, 2013
Melo continues: "@Marcelomelo83: Our crowd behaved as it should, encouraging the team from beginning to end with respect." #DavisCup—
Ben Rothenberg (@BenRothenberg) February 04, 2013
No doubt DC can be quite a rowdy affair, and no doubt sometimes the crowd goes over-the-line and that can be extremely difficult for the opposing player. Some countries (their fans) are much worse than others in their over-the-top cheering, but it's part of DC and you just have to live with it.
I'm with the Brazilians here. The US scheduled the tie in Jacksonville knowing it would encourage many Brazilian fans to come. You can't entice their fans to travel here, take their money, but expect them to sit on their hands. It was already obvious years ago, but Querrey is the better player and athlete.
Part of what makes Davis Cup great fun to watch (and probably even more fun if you're actually present at a match) is the rabid partisanship. It puzzled me at first but now I not only accept, but enjoy it. Meanwhile, although I'm not a big fan of Isner's game - he gets too passive too often - he's impressed me throughout his career as an extremely good sportsman, fairer than most. Here I think he needs to let go here & accept Davis Cup for what it is. It's a thrilling alternative to actual warfare.