Australian Open 2012: Tomas Berdych's Lack of Sportsmanship Is Appalling

Tomas Berdych was booed by the crowd at the Australian Open on Sunday because he refused to shake hands with his opponent, Nicolas Almagro, after defeating the Spaniard in a hard-fought, five-set fourth-round match.

This was a classless move by Berdych and was truly unprofessional. This lack of sportsmanship has no place in tennis, or in any other sport for that matter.

Berdych was displeased with a forehand shot from Almagro that struck his arm, and Berdych thought it was intentional.

After looking at the replay, it was clear that Almagro was just trying to win a point, and was not trying to purposely hit Berdych. Sometimes you get hit when trying to defend a point; not everyone's racquet-striking can be perfect.

Here is what Berdych had to say about the incident and the post-match booing in Melbourne, via Yahoo Sports:

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"I think when you have a point and somebody wants to hit you straight to your face, I don't see this as a nice moment," he said through the boos of fans to the on-court interviewer after the match. "Especially when you have a whole court free and you're just standing in the middle of it and he hits you in the face. Yeah, [the booing] is their opinion."

In his press conference, Berdych backed off a little.

"What happened from Nico was not what should be happening in tennis," he said. "Maybe we both made a mistake, so it's even and that's it."

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Berdych's comments are laughable and make him look incredibly foolish. The ball hit him in the arm and came nowhere near his face. Also, how are the two players even? Where was Almagro's mistake?

Berdych made himself look bad by not shaking hands with Almagro, and it was a gesture that won't earn him any respect in the tennis community. You always shake hands with your opponent, even in hard-fought battles such as this match.

Berdych will certainly be humbled in the quarterfinals when Spanish star Rafael Nadal dominates him and ends his run in Melbourne.

Hopefully Berdych can look back on this situation and realize he made a mistake.

Follow @NicholasGoss35