It was a crucial game between Cypriot Marcos Baghdatis, 26, and his Swiss opponent Stanislas Wawrinka at the Australian Open in Melbourne that unleashed the rage of a losing sportsman on Wednesday.

Baghdatis calmly sat down in a chair during the changeover of his second round match against Wawrinka and proceeded to beat his tennis racquet to a wiry, mangled pulp. Just when onlookers thought that Baghdatis' fit of anger was over, he handed the unrecognizable racquet to a ballboy, pulled a fresh one from his bag, and delivered the same treatment, banging the instrument against the ground until it, too, was destroyed.

But Baghdatis wasn't done. Not once, but twice, more the competitor ruined innocent nearby racquets. Maybe he knows something we don't, however; after his outburst — for which he was fined $1,250 — Baghdatis went on to win the third set, before finally being defeated at the end of the game, reports the U.K.'s Daily Mail. No final meltdown followed.

In the meantime, video footage of the racquet-smashing had reached over 350,000 views on YouTube just 24 hours after the incident. "That's impressive," Serena Williams said about Baghdatis' behavior. "Wow. I actually used to break a lot of racquets on the court. I sometimes break them in practice, just not in a match anymore."

Watch the meltdown here:

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