Marc Polmans breaks silence to apologise to the chair umpire after hitting him in anger at the Shanghai Masters

Polmans lost his temper before smashing the ball straight into the chair umpire's face.

Marc Polmans breaks silence to apologise to the chair umpire after hitting him in anger at the Shanghai Masters

Marc Polmans (L), ig: Marcpolmans(R)

Australian tennis player Marc Polmans was handed an immediate disqualification in his Shanghai Masters qualifier against Italian Stefano Napolitano after he smashed the ball straight into the umpire’s face.

The Australian, World No. 140, was on match point when he hit an unforced error in the second set tiebreak and let his emotions get the better of him. The ball struck the face of Scottish umpire Ben Anderson, who was sitting just 4 meters away from the player. The match was called off at 7-6, 6-6, and the Italian was handed a walkover to the next round.

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The ATP has said that he will not face any punishment in addition to the lost prize money and ranking points he would’ve earned during the tournament. In an Instagram story, the Aussie said that he had already apologized to the chair umpire and admitted to losing his temper.

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“An update from me – the umpire, Ben, has accepted my apology for my actions – he knows it was unintentional and I shanked the ball on the frame in frustration in the heat of the moment. We both move on. It was a high-pressure situation and I should have reacted better. I look forward to shouting Ben a coffee next time we meet,” he wrote.

If the Aussie had kept his calm and won the match, he would have made his first main-draw appearance in a Masters tournament. The World No. 140 defeated the Russian pro Alibek Kachmazov 3-6, 6-3, 7-6 in the first qualifier. 

The tournament spokesman confirmed, to the relief of many and especially Polmans, that chair umpire Anderson was “OK when he left the stadium.” Further, it was revealed that chair umpire Anderson had an ice pack applied to his nose and cheek.

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Nick Kyrgios and John Millman react to Marc Polman’s disqualification

Reacting to his Australian counterparts’ disqualification, Kyrgios questioned whether Polmans would be handed a fine like he had been at the Queens in 2018. “Interested to see what the fine will be all things considered (15 thousand pounds) for the bottle shake at Queens,” he wrote on the social media site ‘X’.

Marc Polmans, Nick Kyrgios and John Millman (Credit : Wimbledon and Eurosport)

Australian tennis player John Millman jumped in defense of his counterpart, calling him one of the nicest persons he had known. “Really hope the umpire is okay. They should be safe working in their environment. No excuses for this. No one would feel worse than Marc about this. He’s possibly the nicest person I know,”  Millman wrote in a post shared on the social media site ‘X’.

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