Forget foul-mouthed footballers, Tennis and Cricket is where it’s all at. <br />
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Cricket especially. No-one was under any illusions that the Aussies lead the world in sledging, swearing and over-confidence (5-0 to Australia, Mr McGrath?). But now they <a href=”http://content-uk.cricinfo.com/engvaus/content/story/217669.html”>lead the world in whinging</a> as well.<br />
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In cricket, they deny us stump microphone, which is such a shame, although we could lip-read Ponting and Katich as they told the crowd and everyone else exactly what they thought. Who cares if there is swearing on daytime TV? In the tennis, no such problems. <a href=”http://news.ft.com/cms/s/10039b82-19b1-11da-804e-00000e2511c8.html”>In the Andy Murray – Andrei Pavel match</a> at the US Open, which was gripping stuff (<a href=”http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/tennis/4199444.stm”>vomit excluded</a>), Pavel went ballistic at the umpire. <br />
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“Are you fucking stupid?” he started. Now now, careful Andrei. But no, he went on to use the word “fuck” or variants thereof a further 4 times. No warning from the umpire. <br />
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But Andrei wanted more. “You are shit”, he commented at the change of ends after throwing away his serve. Code warning Pavel. But not content to leave it alone, Pavel got in one more rant, and was given a point penalty. Luckily he stopped digging there. Next penalty would have been the match, which would have denied Murray the chance to show just how far he has come in a very short time.