From Daniil Medvedev to Alexander Bublik: How the tennis world reacted to the Denis Shapovalov disqualification controversy in Washington
Denis Shapovalov of Canada finds himself at the center of a major controversy following his disqualification during a match against Ben Shelton at the Mubadala Citi DC Open in Washington D.C. last week. The 25-year-old Canadian was disqualified from the tournament after uttering profanities at a spectator after a point was played.
As a result of the disqualification, Shapovalov lost the 100 ranking points he had earned by reaching the quarterfinals of the tournament along with his prize money. A number of his colleagues felt that the Canadian was harshly treated.
What have other tennis players said about the Denis Shapovalov controversy?
Some of Shapovalov's colleagues on the ATP Tour have criticized the decision to disqualify the player. Alexander Bublik, the player from Kazakhstan, wrote on his Instagram account,
"We back to complete nonsense again? Next time we going to get defaulted because we looked at the spectator the ‘wrong way’ but they can do and say whatever they want?"
Bublik's opinion about the incident was thus crystal clear from his post on social media.
Daniil Medvedev of Russia also had similar views about the disqualification, and said on this matter (in an interview with The Express),
"I don't think Denis should have been disqualified. From what you hear on TV, he deserved a warning and maybe a fine after the match, but that's it. So I was really very surprised. I think the ATP is doing some good things and some not so good things at the moment, but I have the impression that they don't know where they are going.
"They want to be like Formula 1 and football. But in this case, you can't ask players to stay calm like robots while around them there is a circus and a show. Things need to be clearer for the players and the spectators."
A point of note here is that in the case of the two other sports Medvedev mentioned, the spectators are not in proximity to the players as they are in tennis.
Christopher Eubanks, the American tennis player, posted on X (formerly Twitter),
"I'm curious what you can possibly say to a spectator that’ll get you defaulted.”
Vasek Pospisil, the co-founder of the Professional Tennis Players' Association (PTPA) also criticized the rule that disregards the ranking points and prize money earned by a player in case of a disqualification. He wrote on X,
"This rule needs the [sic] change. Absolutely ridiculous that someone would lose all their prize money and points for something like this.”
It is worth noting in this context that had Shapovalov been awarded the 100 points he earned in the tournament by reaching the quarterfinal, his ATP ranking would have improved 33 places, from World No. 139 to No. 106.
ATP reinstates points and prize money to Dennis Shapovalov
The ATP has announced that Dennis Shapovalov will retain his ranking points and prize money, following an appeal. The Canadian will have to pay a hefty fine for his conduct, however.
Alexander Zverev chipped in with his opinion on the matter as well. While speaking to members of the press at the Canadian Open in Montreal, he said,
"I don’t know what the case was with Denis, but he got the points and the prize money back. If he has(sic) been down match point most likely he would have lost the match anyway, so it’s not like he got defaulted at 5-5 in the third set, so at least that’s not too big of a deal for him. But sometimes you can appeal things and sometimes when the ATP is wrong they admit they are wrong, and that’s a good thing."
Shapovalov will next be seen at The National Bank Open in Montreal, Canada.