Tennis Player Denis Shapovalov Disqualified After Hitting Umpire’s Eye

By Sona Kadam on February 7, 2017 at 1:01 PM

Many times we have seen tennis player getting angry and breaking their rackets on court. But this time the player went to cross all limits after he hit the chair umpire in the eye with the ball during the Davis cup match between Canada and Britain.

Shapovalov, 17, was disqualified after striking chair umpire Arnaud Gabas in the eye with the ball in Ottawa on Sunday, gifting singles opponent Kyle Edmund a victory that gave Britain a 3-2 win and with this he was fined US$7,000 by the International Tennis Federation on Monday.

Down 2-0 in sets, and with the third set tied 1-1, he slammed a ball angrily, hitting the chair umpire. Shapovalov told reporters in Ottawa that he spoke to umpire Arnaud Gabas, who was struck in the eye and experienced “bruising and swelling,” according to the International Tennis Federation.

“I went back and spoke to the referee and apologized directly to him,” said Shapovalov. “Luckily he’s OK, but obviously it’s just unacceptable behavior from me. To be honest, I just feel incredibly ashamed and embarrassed, and I just feel awful for letting my team down and my country down for acting a way that I would never want to act. I can promise that that’s the last time I will do anything like that.”

The 17-year-old also apologized Monday on his Twitter account after the outburst caused Canada to lose it’s Davis Cup tie with Great Britain.