Denis Shapovalov’s quarterfinal match against Ben Shelton at the Citi Open ended in chaos when he was defaulted.
Shapovalov, ranked 139th in the ATP, had just made it to his first quarterfinal of the season after a tough three-set victory over Miomir Kecmanovic. He’s been trying hard to climb back up the rankings after an injury last season caused a major setback.
Despite his efforts, things took a turn for the worse when he got disqualified for using bad language towards a fan during his match against Shelton.
Match Drama Unfolds:
During the first set, Shapovalov was leading 6-5 but couldn’t close it out as Shelton broke back and won the tie-break 7-5. The second set saw both players holding serve until another tie-break where Shapovalov lost control at 3-5 by netting a backhand shot and throwing his racket in frustration.
| Name | Age | Points | Stats 2024 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 🇨🇦 Denis Shapovalov | 25 | 550 | 9 - 14 |
At this point, facing three match points, Shapovalov got into an argument with a spectator. The chair umpire Greg Allensworth gave him a code violation for unsportsmanlike conduct and called the tournament supervisor.
“What are you talking about? What do you mean, he’s talking to me and I’m gonna tell him off. Give me a code, but don’t call the supervisor.”
After some heated discussions between Shapovalov, officials, and Shelton, they decided to disqualify him because of his inappropriate language towards the fan. Fans might feel this decision was too harsh.
Shapovalov looked shocked by this outcome while shaking hands with Shelton who offered some kind words at the net. But that wasn’t all; as he left the court, he seemed to curse at the supervisor again.
This makes Shapovalov only the second big name to be defaulted from an ATP match this year after Andrey Rublev’s incident in Dubai where he shouted at a line judge.
If Shapovalov loses his prize money ($53,240) and ranking points (100), it would be another blow as these could help him re-enter Top 100. We’ll have to wait and see if he can appeal successfully like Rublev did earlier this year.
Shelton moved on to play Flavio Cobolli in semifinals and expressed sympathy for Shapovalov post-match:
“Yeah, I don’t really have anything to say. It’s unfortunate that a high-level match like that…ended like that.”
What do you think about this whole situation?
