While tennis may lack the physical contact of other professional sports, there are rare occasions when tempers flare and someone ends up getting injured. Such was the case in a Davis Cup match in Ottawa this past Sunday when Canadian tennis player Denis Shapovalov rocketed a ball in the direction of the chair umpire. Unfortunately for both men, the ball slammed into the eye of the stunned umpire, Arnaud Gabas of France.
You might think it was a bad call the precipitated the event, but it was actually Shapovalov’s frustration at his own game that led him to propel the ball into the face of the innocent bystander. Apparently, the Canadian tennis player has an issue with keeping his cool. In this instance, he was frustrated after losing a point to his competitor Kyle Edmund of Great Britain.
Angry at going down a break in the third set, the seventeen-year-old hot head let his emotions take over as he fired a ball to let off some steam. While the act may have helped to alleviate some tension in the moment, it didn’t bode well for him in the long run, as he was disqualified from the match for his unprofessional conduct, and will no doubt be under the microscope during future competitions. As for umpire Gabas, he lived to see another day, but did have to receive some immediate first aid before being able to resume his duties on the court.
