The day Ilie Nastase got in hot water with All England Club for attempting to ...

Ilie Nastase was feeling nasty.

It was the summer of 1975 and Wimbledon was getting on his nerves – the rules, poor line calls, bad umpiring, that stifling sense of smug white middle class self-satisfaction, Spencer Vignes writes.

Someone needed to burst its bubble. And that someone was going to be him – with a little help from fellow tennis rebel Jimmy Connors… and a Welsh rugby shirt.

Nastase had arrived at Wimbledon that year among the favourites to win the Championship.

Born in Bucharest in 1946, the flamboyant Romanian revelled in his ability to polarise. On the one hand he was a wonderfully gifted athlete, a previous winner of the US and French Opens. He played with passion both on and off the court, frequenting the Playboy Club as much as the Centre Court during visits to London.

The other Nastase seemed to get an almost perverse kick out of upsetting people, in particular authoritarian figures and rule makers. He didn’t suffer fools gladly, hence his nickname ‘Nasty’.

In the first round of the men’s singles, Nastase comfortably dismissed the Russian Teimuraz Kakulia in straight sets. Two days later he suffered a dubious line call in the fifth set against the bearded Texan Sherwood Stewart and subsequently lost the match.

To say Nastase did not go quietly would be an understatement of gigantic proportions.

“A crazy decision, crazy, so far out it was unbelievable, and they know it,” he said at the time after smashing his racket in disgust and crying in the dressing room.

Even now he still insists the ball was out.

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That left him with time on his hands in which to stew and only the men’s doubles to look forward to.

For the third year running he had joined forces with his friend and singles adversary Jimmy Connors. They won their opening match but Nastase was still in a bad frame of mind after his singles defeat.

One morning while out walking through nearby Wimbledon village, Connors, looking for ways to lift his glum pal’s spirits, suggested they go into a sports shop and buy rugby shirts to wear on court for their next doubles match, knowing full well it would contradict the All England Club’s strict all-white dress code.

Nastase thought it was a great idea and the two men set about choosing their tops. Connors went straight for a green Ireland jersey because of his Irish roots.

As for Nastase? It had to be the red of Wales but not because of any allegiance or affinity for the country.

“I saw it and the red said ‘Communist’ to me which Romania was back then, so that was the one I had to have, and it was a great looking shirt,” says Nastase. “I only found out about Wales and its love of rugby afterwards, so it was a good choice.”

The following day Connors and Nastase arrived for their men’s doubles game on Wimbledon’s Court 2 dressed proudly in their purchases.

The crowd cheered and the pair began limbering up ready for action, at which point they were approached by the umpire assigned for the match.

Deep down the players knew hell would freeze over before Wimbledon allowed them to play in rugby shirts, but they argued the toss all the same.

Why couldn’t they play in Welsh and Irish jerseys? Eventually the pair relented but not before also donning bowler hats. Anything to have a bit of fun and lance the air of pomposity.

Adrian Murrell/Getty Images

Jimmy Connors clowns and jokes with the spectators by wearing a bowler hat during a Men’s Doubles match with partner Ilie Nastase at the Wimbledon Lawn Tennis Championship

 

Almost inevitably, Wimbledon’s blazers failed to see the funny side of the matter. The rebels were called to account by an All England Club disciplinary committee headed by tournament referee Mike Gibson.

Fines were imposed along with warnings about their future conduct. Still, the prank succeeded in cheering him up and he remembers it with amusement almost four decades later.

“The thing is I like the white rule,” says Nastase. “It’s a nice thing. You see players wearing bright colours at the other tournaments and it looks horrible, horrible. But we were just trying to have a bit of fun, that’s all. They didn’t see it that way, but that’s all we were trying to do.”

Article source: http://www.yorkpress.co.uk/sport/11302439.Tributes_pour_in_for__lsquo_Mr_York_Rugby_rsquo__Pete_Warters/?ref=rss

The day Ilie Nastase got in hot water with All England Club for attempting to ...