Brazilians call John Isner a crier for complaining about Davis Cup fans

John Isner lost his reverse singles match to Thomaz Bellucci, but the U.S. advanced. (Sam Greenwood/Getty Images) It's not often you hear players from the
Brazilians call John Isner a crier for complaining about Davis Cup fans
Brazilians call John Isner a crier for complaining about Davis Cup fans /

John Isner lost his reverse singles match to Thomaz Bellucci, but the U.S. advanced. (Sam Greenwood/Getty Images)

John Isner

It's not often you hear players from the host nation complaining about visiting fans, but John Isner didn't mince words when it came to the rowdy Brazil supporters who were in Jacksonville, Fla., for the Americans' first-round Davis Cup tie against Brazil. As Tennis.com reports, after losing to Thomaz Bellucci in five sets Sunday, Isner believed the Brazil bench and their fans crossed a line.

“To be honest, I don't appreciate their fans at all. I don't think they're too classy at all,” Isner told reporters. “Not only their actual fans but the guys on their bench are saying stuff, toss the ball up, double fault. I can hear it. It didn't affect me, it's just I don't think there's any room for that. I'm not going to sugarcoat this as well. I don't appreciate their fans at all. I think they're very rude.”

Brazilian captain Joao Zwetsch responded: “I didn't see that John is not playing his best tennis here probably. Thomaz played really good today. I really didn't see it could have anything involved in the result of the game, you know. Like we say in Brazil, 'Cry is free.' You can cry as much as you want. But Thomaz beat him playing tennis, that's all.”

Brazilian doubles specialist Marcelo Melo, who along with Bruno Soares handed Mike and Bob Bryan a surprising loss Saturday, took to Twitter to defend their fans. Melo quickly deleted his tweets, but a writer from TheNew York Times captured the gist:

http://twitter.com/BenRothenberg/statuses/298516072129249280


Published
Courtney Nguyen
COURTNEY NGUYEN

Contributor, SI.com Nguyen is a freelance writer for SI.com, providing full coverage of professional tennis both on and off the court. Her content has become a must-read for fans and insiders to stay up-to-date with a sport that rarely rests. She has appeared on radio and TV talk shows all over the world and is one of the co-hosts of No Challenges Remaining, a weekly podcast available on iTunes. Nguyen graduated from the University of California, Irvine in 1999 and received a law degree from the University of California, Davis in 2002. She lives in the Bay Area.