A US Open tennis player remarkably managed to manually snap his racket in half in a moment of unadulterated fury during a mixed doubles match on Monday.
Finnish star Harri Heliovaara had entered the tournament with doubles partner Anna Danilina at Flushing Meadows and the pair made quite the impression on their path to the quarter-final.
Defending champions Heliovaara and Danilina had knocked out the top seeds Joe Salisbury and Gabriela Dabrowski in the first round, before overcoming Cristina Busca and Joran Vliegen in another three-set match.
But when faced against the American duo Taylor Townsend and Donald Young in the quarter-final, Heliovaara couldn’t keep a lid on his emotions as his frustration boiled over on Grandstand.
Trailing 7-8 in the final-set tiebreak, Heliovaara missed what many would regard as a simple volley at the net and he reacted by first smashing his racket on the net tape.
After taking a brief moment to pause, he proceeded to lift his knee and pushed down the metal frame racket over his thigh. Showing his incredible strength, the racket snapped in half – forcing him to grab another from his bag.
While one lucky spectator was gifted the wretched remains of the destroyed racket frame, Heliovaara attempted to regain his composure as he and Danilina faced match point.
But it was a thankless task for the pair, as Townsend and Young made no mistake in wrapping up the (3) 6-7, 6-3, 10-8 victory to reach the semi-finals in New York.
Co-commentator Jimmy Arias labelled Heliovaara’s performance as “one of the worst performances of his life.”
But the ex-American professional player commended the veteran for his immense strength, adding: “All match long he has struggled today, he’s missed some sitters. “But he did a great job here… and the strength of breaking a racket over your leg, that is something I wouldn’t try!”
It led some fans on social media to compare the towering man from Helsinki with ‘The Hulk’ after his phenomenal display of strength.
The defeat marks the end of Heliovaara’s US Open trophy hopes, as the 35-year-old was also knocked out of the men’s doubles tournament with Britain’s Henry Patten, with the pair well beaten by Nikola Metkic and Wesley Koolhof 6-2, 6-2.
However, he will finish the 2024 calendar year with some silverware in his trophy cabinet after claiming the Wimbledon title with Patten back in July.
In one of the most memorable men’s doubles matches SW19 has seen, Patten and Heliovaara triumphed with a (7) 6-7, 7-6 (8), 7-6 (9) victory to down the Australian twosome.
