Reproduced with permission from Business Insider:
Dutch tennis player Elise Tamaela was seriously injured yesterday when the father of another player attacked her in the stands during a match.
SB Nation did the various language translations to report this story.
Tamaela was cheering on fellow Dutch player Danielle Harmsen as she took on Danish player Karen Barbat during a tournament in Germany on Monday.
Barbat and her father took exception to the loud and vocal support of Harmsen’s fans, so he confronted them, allegedly shouting racial slurs at Tamaela.
Then Barbat allegedly attacked Tamaela, knocking her unconscious and then sending her to the hospital.
He and his daughter – who was disqualified from the rest of the tournament – reportedly fled for the Danish border.
Assault is always a serious offence, but this is a particularly sensitive issue in the world of tennis given the on-court stabbing on Monica Seles years ago, and the notoriously overbearing parents the sport seems to create. Barbat himself has been arrested at his 19-year-old daughter’s matches after showing up drunk.
