‘He was telling me to get out of there,’ Denis Shapovalov explains the ‘Shut the F*** up’ rant towards fans at the Rome Masters
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Denis Shapovalov
Canadian tennis star Denis Shapovalov had a little heated moment with the crowd during his first-round match at the Rome Masters. He was playing home favorite Lorenzo Sonego in front of the packed Italian crowd who were obviously rooting for Sonego. Shapovalov got into an argument with the umpire over a ball mark and while discussing things with him, the crowd were booing him.
The Canadian lost his cool and snapped at the crowd yelling, “Shut the F*** up!” He went on to win the match 7-6(5),3-6,6-3 and later in the press conference, spoke in detail about the incident. He said that a certain spectator was heckling him constantly and was crossing the line and thus, in the heat of the moment, he snapped at him.
“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,” Shapovalov said.
He said that he reported the same to the umpire but the umpire didn’t see the spectator heckle and hence couldn’t throw him out. He added that umpires should be more considerate to what players are saying and take due action.
“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,” he said.
‘I just need to improve with handling myself’: Denis Shapovalov
Shapovalov then cited the example of the NBA where there are a lot more hecklers but security ensures that they don’t disrupt any momentum. He also said that he will have to improve how he handles himself.
“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. Obviously, I think it’s a heat-of-the-moment kind of thing. I just need to improve with handling myself about that,” he said.
He then clarified that he doesn’t have any hard feelings with Roman fans as he feels very much loved in the Italian capital.
“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 joked.
Shapovalov is now through to the Round of 16 of the Italian Open after a convincing win over Nikoloz Basilashvili and will now face either John Isner or Rafael Nadal.
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Lakshya Chopra
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