NEW YORK (AP) – Miffed at a miss, Mardy Fish held the racket right in front of his face and spit through the strings. Still stewing, he took a swing at his equipment bag and wound up for another whack.

“I was just so frustrated,” he said early Thursday after his quarterfinal loss to Rafael Nadal.

He’s hardly the only one making such a racket at this U.S. Open.

Andy Roddick, Novak Djokovic and even sweet Lindsay Davenport launched ’em. Nikolay Davydenko broke four in one match and almost ran out.

Then there was Chris Harrison.

He slung so many rackets during a first-round loss that a tennis official was dispatched to Harrison’s court with a message: Stop! You’re damaging the signs of the corporate sponsors!

Oh, by the way – Harrison is 14, and was playing in the junior tournament.

“People say they want more personality in tennis, and that throwing the racket shows personality,” said Wayne Bryan, whose twins sons will play for the men’s doubles title. “I think it shows a lack of self-control.”

“I don’t like seeing the racket leaving the hand. Sure, there were times when Mike and Bob were boys that we had to take away the rackets. It happens with 8-year-olds. “But you don’t want to see it here. Do you think it’s the first time they’ve done it?”

Through midday Thursday, five players at the U.S. Open had been fined $500 each for racket abuse. The list included qualifier Gilles Muller, lost to Roger Federer in the quarterfinals.

Funny thing, as much as Federer is portrayed as a model of sportsmanship, he flashed quite a temper as a teen and was known for tossing rackets. Lots of them.

“Obviously, you don’t want rackets flying,” U.S. Open tournament referee Brian Earley said. “You don’t want anything dangerous, where they come near someone and a player is pushing the envelope.”

“But you have a little leeway and you want the chair umpire to use his or her discretion,” he said.

Players can be warned, docked a point or penalized an entire game for wrecking their rackets. Roddick doesn’t like that code of conduct rule – he wouldn’t, because he’s earned a reputation for cracking, crumpling and crushing them.

Earlier in this tournament, he took a full windup and mangled the frame.

“If a guy wants to break a bat in the dugout, he doesn’t get warned. It’s not hurting anyone,” Roddick said. “If it’s affecting your opponent, then that’s probably disrespectful, then keep it out of there. But it’s my racket, not anybody else’s.”

Muller and Davydenko both threw their rackets this week. In the same match, on the same point.

When Davydenko’s final shot hit the net and plopped back onto his side, he spiked his into the ground. Muller, penalized in a previous match for abuse, joyfully flung his into the stands.

“Now go home, no rackets,” Davydenko said.

Djokovic drew whistles and boos after he threw his racket this week. He slammed one last year during a loss to Federer in the final, and a small piece broke off – it was quarter-sized string dampener, designed to reduce vibration, and was decorated with a yellow smiley face.

Djokovic seems to have a firm grasp on the art of throwing rackets. Tossed down their handles or edges, they usually stay intact; pounded at an angle or given a full, frontal smash, they often snap.

Glen Flint understands rackets, whether they cost $50 or $200, be they made of graphite, carbon, titanium or Kevlar. He’s a racket stringer at the U.S. Open, working in a room near the entrance to center court at Arthur Ashe Stadium.

He also travels the tour with Roddick. Yet Flint insists he never winces when tennis’ A-Rod goes wild.

“If crushing that racket clears your mind,” Flint said, “go for it.”

AP-ES-09-04-08 1739EDT