Aussie John Millman is known as one of the nicest guys on the tennis tour but he got fired up in a heated exchange with an opponent.
Australia’s John Millman has been involved in a tense exchange at the Indian Wells tennis tournament.
The 32-year-old fought hard to defeat Jack Sock 7-5 4-6 6-3 on Saturday (AEDT) in California.
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The American had been leading the third and deciding set 3-1, before Millman won the next five games in a row to clinch a hard-fought win after two-and-a-half hours.
Sock, who had been vocal about the line calls throughout the match, appeared less than impressed with the result.
He shared a cold handshake at the net with Millman and seemed to have a few parting words for his Aussie opponent.
Millman was clearly unhappy with what he’d heard and confronted Sock at his bench next to the court.
It was hard to catch everything said in the heated exchange because the on-court announcer was speaking at the same time, but Sock was heard saying: “I didn’t look at you, I smiled at you”.
Millman then responded: “You said …” before the conversation was again lost in the audio.
“No I didn’t,” Sock was then heard repeating, to which Millman replied: “Yeah you did, mate. And then you proceeded to tell me … (unintelligible) … but yeah, it’s my fault!”
Tennis fans were taken aback by Millman’s strong body language and were convinced something was said to annoy the usually mild-mannered Queenslander.
The umpire even had to get down from his chair to intervene and prevent the exchange from escalating any further.
“A little chatter between the two,” one of the commentators on BeIN Sports said as the tense interaction unfolded.
“That hadn’t been brewing at all but suddenly it has spilt over at the shake of the hands,” another replied.
“We didn’t quite get what Sock said to Millman but you can imagine for Millman to react like that. Sock only has himself to blame.
“He let that match slip through his fingertips. He was never going to give it to him Millman.”
Millman will next play 10th seed and rising Italian star Jannik Sinner on Monday.