While the men’s semifinals at Australian Open were hitting the high notes of competitiveness, things got extremely prickly after a doubles quarter finals juniors clash on 1573 Arena on Thursday, and anger melted nerves.
The Australian pair of Ymerali Ibraimi and Cooper Kose had just beaten Colombia’s Juan Miguel Bolivar Idarraga and USA’s Vihaan Reddy in straight sets, when the Aussies traded words as celebrations., soon after shaking hands post the 6-2, 6-4 result. Channel Nine said something said by either Bolivar Idarraga or Reddy at the net angered Ibraimi, who pointed at the beaten combine saying, “Who’s a clown?”
“Leave it, leave it,” his partner Kose is said to have responded, but Ibraimi then went towards the bench and added: “Enjoy your flight back to Colombia, alright. How you disrespected me … you never do that to me ever again.”
While the chair umpire tried to intervene, the Aussie went beserk.
“You know what you did (during the match),” Ibraimi was quoted as saying by Nine.
“All those crappy underarm serves. I dare you try to do that to me again. Enjoy your time in the locker room, loser,” he continued.
Ibrahim, born in Victoria, is 16 and ranked 169 in ITF, and has been routed to be a big name to look out for in the future.
Speaking to Tennis Australia, Ibraimi had described his early days in the game. “It started when I was able to walk. My dad would give me a little racquet and a balloon, and I would go in the garage and try to hit as hard as I could. Yeah, that’s how it all started. My dad is an all sports fan, but mostly tennis because he loved watching all the players on TV, especially Andre Agassi and Pete Sampras,” he said. ‘I enjoy the competitiveness and the grind. Just running side-to-side on the court, I really enjoying the grind,”
He named his biggest highlight as, winning two tournaments in a row, in Melbourne. One in Frankston, one in Pakenham. While he’s travelled with Tennis Australia to Europe trip to France, Germany and Belgium, he had said, it taught him to stay patient. “(I learnt) that there’s more players out there than just playing in Australia, and that it’s a big competitive sport. It’s a worldly sport and you just got to be patient and and just work hard.”
The duo meet Japanese pair in semis.
Ibraimi named Nick Kyrgios as his biggest hero. “Just big serve, forehand and backhand. Just the way he’s able to serve. Just serve all these games out super easily, and he’s also got great hands at the net.
Ibraimi also told Tennis Australia about a memorable meeting with Novak Djokovic.
“I’ve met Novak Djokovic at the AO when I was in the Super 10’s. He was training and we were going back to the same hotel. Then he was there and I said to him, “How’d you beat us back to the hotel?”. He said “I followed you”. To meet him was just such a great experience,” he said.
The typical teen, who reckons ges not bad at soccer either, and plays a bit of PlayStation, said he had a hidden talent. “I’m a pretty good impersonator. My mind kind of picks up the talents of other people pretty quickly and I can impersonate it pretty well.”
At the junior doubles quarters though, he got wound up pretty tight and then exploded.
General view from the stands during a women's singles match at the Australian Open. (AP) 
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