“You guys are ALL CORRUPT” Denis Shapovalov lashes out on chair umpire for ‘favouring’ Rafael Nadal, players CLASH mid-match on the net
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Rafael Nadal and Denis Shapovalov
World No. 6 Rafael Nadal and World No. 14 Denis Shapovalov clashed for a spot in the semi-finals of the 2022 Australian Open. While Nadal is looking to enter his 7th semi-final at the Slam, Shapovalov is looking to make his semi-final debut at Melbourne Park and faces the former champion in a stern test.
However, the match was marked by an ugly incident between the Canadian and the chair umpire Carlos Bernardes before the start of the second set. Nadal won the first set 6-3 in 39 minutes in a close set that was decided by the solitary breakpoint opportunity that was created and won by the Spaniard to draw the first blood on the Rod Laver Arena.
As Denis was preparing to serve in the first game of the second set, he found Nadal was not yet ready on the other side of the net and the Canadian was angry over this approaching the chair umpire and asking for a time penalty on the Spaniard who had exceeded the allowed 90 seconds break between the sets.
“He’s been off the court for so long still he is not ready to play. You gotta call him. He’s not ready to play, what do you mean I am not ready to play. Are you kidding me? You guys are all corrupt, you guys are all corrupt,” said Denis who started to smile sarcastically after the chair umpire said now you are wasting time to start the match.
Rafael Nadal and Denis Shapovalov clash on net mid-match
Denis held his service in the first game of the second set and with sides changed, Nadal was about to serve when the chair umpire and Denis were back in a war of words with the Canadian getting angrier over the whole thing.
While Nadal remained silent for most of it, he had it enough and called Shapovalov on the net to sort things but even then the youngster kept on talking and one could not be sure whether things were sorted between them or not.
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Sarthak Shitole
(3462 Articles Published)