After 3:13 strenuous hours, Denis Shapovalov was able to use his first match point on Monday to put the Italian crowd favorite Lorenzo Sonego in his place at the ATP tournament in Rome 7: 6, 3: 6 and 6: 3. Despite the success, the Canadian’s nerves were on edge.
When chair umpire Richard Haigh raised an objection to Shapovalov’s second serve when the score was 3: 4 in the second set and corrected the service out, the 23-year-old took on the referee.
Exasperated, the world No. 16 climbed over the net, pointed to the imprint he thought his shot had left and yelled at Haigh to the whistles of the fans.
The latter remained level-headed but, to make matters worse, had to explain to Shapovalov that he would be deducted another point for entering the opposing side of the field.
“I’m not doing anything unsportsmanlike – how can you deduct a point from me,” replied a visibly upset Shapovalov. The North American smashed the hint that it was simply the rule with the words: “No, it’s not, it’s stupid”.
Nadal is preferred “100 percent”.
Even with the audience, Shapovalov made no friends with his style. When he then wanted to silence the crowd with the exclamation: “Shut up!”, The favorite was finally down. He even wanted to explicitly remove a fan, but Haigh didn’t even respond to the request.
It’s not the first freak Shapovlaov made headlines with in 2022. In the quarterfinals of the Australian Open, he threw the referee in his head when he lost to Rafael Nadal: “You are all corrupt.” Shapovalov then rowed back and said he had “put it wrong”, but emphasized that Nadal was “100 percent” preferred by the rulers.
It is not yet clear whether the renewed dropout will have any consequences.