Tennis hall of shame: the fathers

Bad dads ... who is the worst tennis father? Damir, Tomic, Graf? Have your say! Source:FOX SPORTS

In the wake of John Tomic's alleged assault on his son's training partner, we list the worst five fathers in the history of the sport.

Tennis and bad parents go together like pies and sauce. Or, as Damir Dokic might say, ambassador threats and hand grenades.

Narrowing down such a large field of horror fathers to just five was exhusting and time consuming work, and this list of tennis bottom feeders certainly won't win any votes for Father of the Year. 

Who takes the crown for worst tennis father? Vote in our poll below!

Who is the Godfather of bad tennis dads?

Once shouted, "Mary, kill the b***h!", during one of his daughter's matches culminating in a ban from attending all WTA Tour matches. Pierce reportedly assaulted his daughter on at least one occasion and she fired him as her coach.Mary later said: "Dad would slap me after I lost a match, or sometimes if I had a bad practice".

First there was the verbal and physical abuse of his daughter Jelena. Then there was his ejection from Wimbledon in 2000 for smashing a journalist's phone. Months later when he was booted out of the US Open for abusing staff after he took exception to the price of fish in the players' lounge. He almost had the Bad Behaviour Grand Slam when Australian Open organisers kicked him out after he ranted about Jelena's draw being fixed. His crowning glory, threatening the Australian ambassador to Belgrade with a hand grenade.

Talented teen Mirjana Lucic didn't flee Croatia in 1998 because of civil unrest or political upheaval. She left because her dad was a violent thug who beat her after matches. "There were more beatings than anyone can imagine, sometimes because I lost a game, sometimes because I lost a set," Mirjana Lucic said.

Branded in the German press as "Papa Merciless", Steffi Graf's father, Peter, was an off-court tyrant. Graf Snr reportedly used to order Steffi off the practice court and demand she follow him. He was later sentenced to more than three years in prison for evading tax on more than $6 million of Steffi's earnings.

Milked his prodigy daughter Jennifer for every dollar he could during her controversial career. Signed contracts worth millions while his daughter was a teenager, drawing accusations from the media that he was treating her as a meal ticket. Jennifer quit tennis in 1993 and a year later was arrested for possessing marijuana.

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