Alexander Zverev may be returning to hard-court action this week after a brief hiatus at the Olympics, but for many players, they have already begun such preparation.
After all, not everyone opted to go to Paris, with Denis Shapovalov one such example of a player who instead decided to feature in Washington, challenging for a severely weakened ATP 500 event.
However, his campaign ended in frustration, when he was defaulted for allegedly shouting at a crowd member.
Alexander Zverev can relate to this feeling, having suffered a similar fate in Acapulco this year.
Alexander Zverev reacts to Denis Shapovalov default in Washington
Chatting to the press ahead of his first game in Montreal tomorrow, the German could not preview his return to the hard courts without first combing over what had happened during the Olympics period.
And although he could not defend his singles gold medal, elsewhere there was huge controversy in a match involving two players who opted against travelling to Paris.
As Ben Shelton seemed set to claim a victory over Shapovalov, the latter was pictured swearing at a crowd member and was subsequently defaulted, losing all his ranking points and prize money.
Asked about the incident, Zverev replied: ‘I don’t know what happened. I’m sorry I didn’t see it. But in any case with the ATP you can appeal things, you can appeal decisions, and the ATP has a second look at it. I think the same thing with Rublev in Dubai. When the ATP is wrong they admit they are wrong and take back their decision.
‘I don’t know what the case was with Denis, but he got the points and the prize money back. If he has 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.’
The reporter then questioned whether it was fair to take money and points away from the player, to which the German noted: ‘I think there is a different kind of default. I think there are defaults it’s very, very obvious where you did something wrong.
‘Like to be fair my case in Acupuclo. I didn’t even appeal anything. It was the worst moment in my career. But in other cases, there are moments probably like with Denis, I don’t know, again, I didn’t see it, where if you are just getting a point penalty on match point it’s counted as a default but it’s just a point penalty. I think that’s very different.’
Another example of questionable chair umpire decisions in tennis
Having since seen his prize money and ranking points reinstated, it seems this marks yet another case of a chair umpire making a really questionable decision.
Andrey Rublev is another who fell foul to this earlier in the year, having seen the exact same turn of events occur in Dubai.
Meanwhile, Coco Gauff’s feud with chair umpires is ongoing, having been treated horrendously in Dubai as well, then again at Roland Garros, before Gauff was pictured crying and shouting at the umpire at the Olympics.
This upturn in questionable refereeing needs looking into, as it seems to be a growing problem in tennis that could severely damage its reputation.
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