David Nalbandian Is Being Investigated For Assault, Because He Accidentially Gave A Line Judge A Boo-Boo

by Matt Rudnitsky | 3:30 pm, June 18th, 2012

David Nalbandian got mad playing tennis and tried to kick a chair. This is something that tennis players do on a daily basis. Unfortunately for David, the chair he was kicking was occupied, his kick misfired and a line judge was (mildly) injured. The Argentinian was disqualified from the match (he was leading the Queen’s Club final), stripped of his $57,350 in prize money and fined the maximum $12,560 by the ATP. As of now, he won’t be suspended for Wimbledon, which starts next Monday.

Oh, and now he’s being investigated for assault by London police. What? Per ESPN:

“Police declined to say who made the complaint. Any member of the public who witnessed the event in person or on television could have made a complaint, as could the line judge himself.”

So…it could be anyone. Literally, any fan watching the match, in person or at home, miles away, could have filed the complaint. Any Nalbandian or Argentina-hater, any childhood rivals, his bitter Aunt Sally. Anybody could have filed this complaint. It could be the victim, to whom Nalbandian “personally apologise(d) to…for this regrettable act that I am fully responsible for.” But that seems unlikely.

This is absurd. It seems pretty clear that Nalbandian made a stupid mistake, owned up to it and didn’t mean any harm. The line judge had his leg beat up a bit, “received first aid but needed no further treatment after seeing a doctor.” It was a boo-boo, received by accident. Not assault. It seems safe to assume that the assault charges won’t amount to anything, but regardless, it’s insane that this even got to this point. If it somehow does, I’ll expect hockey players to be jailed after every five-minute major from now on.

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