X-rated Bjorkman brings back the bad days of Mac

In a dispute which evoked the pre-Hawk-Eye times at the All England Club, last year's semi-finalist hurled a volley of abuse after James Keothavong overruled a line call in favour of Bjorkman's opponent Tomas Berdych.

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Bjorkman: Furious

The Swedish 19th seed, who lost the fourth-round match 6-4, 6-0, 6-7, 6-0 on Court 18, had no recourse to the electronic gadgetry of the replay system which is used to resolve line call disputes on Centre and Court One.

Trailing by two sets, Bjorkman had carved out his first break points of the match at 3-2 in the third when a Berdych serve was called out on the sideline farthest from the umpire's chair.

Instantly, Keothavong, brother of former British No 1 Anne, overruled. To Bjorkman's fury, he called the serve an ace and announced "Deuce" — a hasty decision on a 133mph serve, given his viewpoint.

Bjorkman launched into his Mac the Mouth impression. Striding over to Keothavong, he told him: "That's why you suck. That's why you shouldn't be having matches like this. You are absolutely useless."

Unsurprisingly, a distracted Bjorkman lost the next point. He erupted once more, this time with a mouthful of choice Swedish. On and on he went.

His tirade would almost certainly have drawn a code violation warning for abuse had the English official had the foggiest idea what he was on about.

What Bjorkman actually said was: "You bloody fool. I'm so tired of you. It's not the first time you've ruined it for me. You're lucky that I'm not John McEnroe."

Still arguing at the next changeover, Bjorkman's language deteriorated as he was overheard using the F-word during a heated discussion with Keothavong.

His anger gradually subsided and he even managed to pocket the third set but when Berdych proved too strong once more in the fourth all that was left was to shake the hand of the Czech youngster. Bjorkman did not shake the hand of the umpire, though.

He was still festering about the official an hour later in his press conference. Bjorkman said: "He made a horrendous call. There's a lot of guys out there who are trying to make sure that everyone can see them on the court when everything goes well. But you don't have to interrupt the game. All of a sudden, they try to be in the picture.

"With a 133mph serve wide on the far end, you shouldn't even go there if you are an umpire. He felt he needed to do that. That's just unfortunate.

"Obviously, it's all about money but to have Hawk-Eye on two courts is maybe not enough in a Slam. I'm used to playing on courts without Hawk-Eye and as a player you have to have the right to be angry. Look at football.

"Players complain about referees all the time. It's quite natural to be p****d off."

Bjorkman's virtuoso performance breathed life into a match that was in danger of falling asleep.

Of the 416 seats in the stand which dominates spectator viewing on Court 18, only 102 were occupied midway through the match.