Denis Shapovalov called for tennis officials to take a stronger stand against disruptive fans after he was heckled during his three-set win over local hope Lorenzo Sonego at the Internazionali BNL d’Italia on Monday.
Shapovalov lost his cool, was handed a point penalty and was booed by the fans, but he overcame all those distractions to beat Italy’s Sonego 7-6 (7/5), 3-6, 6-3 in his opening match in Rome.
The Canadian was given a point penalty after he climbed over the net to point out to the chair umpire the mark on his rival’s side of the court, which is prohibited by the ATP rules.
Photo: AFP
After Shapovalov complained about the punishment to the supervisor while being jeered by the crowd, he screamed an expletive at them as he believed he was being taunted by one spectator.
“He was just telling me to get off the court, get out of there, waving me off the court. Trying to obviously get under my skin or whatnot,” the Canadian told a news conference. “I think the umpire just needs to keep an eye on it if a player mentions something.”
“The reason why [the heckler] didn’t get kicked out was because [the umpire] told me he didn’t see what happened. That’s very understandable. I feel like he kept an eye on him after that. It didn’t bother me after that,” Shapovalov said.
Photo: AP
The 23-year-old said that tennis should follow the lead of other sports where disruptive fans are evicted from the stands.
“I think in the NBA there’s a lot of hecklers and stuff like that. They’re pretty strict, the security and everything, that [the fans] don’t cross the line. If they do, they’re kicked out right away,” he said.
However, the world No. 16 said that his own behavior was not acceptable.
“Obviously I think it’s a heat-of-the-moment kind of thing. I just need to improve with handling myself about that,” Shapovalov said. “But in terms of going forward, I’ve played in Rome a lot of times. The fans love me here and I love the fans... Even after the match, there were a lot of people standing, waiting for pictures, stuff like that.
“I do really appreciate the sport and the love I get here. I’m super excited to play another match — not against an Italian,” he said, jokingly.
Meanwhile, Rafa Nadal said it would take some time for his “old machine” to fire up.
The Spaniard, sidelined by a rib injury at Indian Wells in March, hopes to build momentum in Rome before launching his campaign for a 14th French Open crown.
The 35-year-old Australian Open champion has endured a string of injuries during a career spanning more than two decades and he said he needed time to get his body up to speed.
“When you’re six weeks without touching a racquet and having the chance to move your body ... my body is like an old machine. To put this machine on again it takes some time,” Nadal told reporters before the Italian Open.
“It’s not the same when you’re 19 than when you are almost 36, with all the issues I went through in my career. You need to build again the confidence, your movements, then you start feeling comfortable with your tennis,” he said. “It’s more about being confident with my movements, recover the speed, recover the way that I have to play on clay and let’s see. I’m confident that I can play well. I need time, but maybe this week can be a positive week, maybe not. Who knows?”
In the women’s doubles, Taiwan’s Chan Hao-ching and Japan’s Shuko Aoyama beat Shelby Rogers of the US and Ukraine’s Nadiia Kichenok 7-6 (3), 0-6, 10-5.
Additional reporting by staff writer
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