In professional tennis there are plenty of emotional players who, in case of failure, go beyond what is permitted, running into fines and warnings.

But Mark Polmans’s action, one step away from victory, stands apart. The Australian injured the referee and was immediately ejected from the court.

Australian Open semi-finalist

Australian Polmans is little known to the general tennis audience. By the age of 26, the athlete was still unable to break into the top hundred of the ATP rankings. In eight years of his professional career, the athlete made people talk about himself only once, when in 2017 he reached the semi-finals of the Australian Open together with Andrew Whittington. Since then, he has won three titles at Challenger series tournaments.

These days, Polmans tried his luck at the Masters series tournament in Shanghai, where he defeated Russian Alibek Kachmazov in the first round of qualifying in a third-set tiebreaker.

Mark Polmans / Photo: © Frey / TPN / Contributor / Getty Images Sport / Gettyimages.ru

Ugly blow

In the qualifying final, Polmans met the quite passable Italian Stefano Napolitano, who ranks only 253rd in the ATP rankings. Mark won the first set in a tiebreaker, and the second set reached the 13th game, where with the score 6:5, the Australian served for the match. In a rally that could have brought him victory, Polmans went to the net, but made an unfortunate mistake, allowing his opponent to level the score.

Polmans’ disappointment was so great that he ran up to the ball as it bounced off the net and hit it with all his might. Unfortunately, the Australian’s nervous breakdown had consequences. The ball bounced off the net and hit chair umpire Renaud Lichtenstein square in the face. The referee grabbed his head and fell to the side.

Mark immediately went to apologize, but it was too late. The Australian was instantly disqualified, and this was the end of his tournament journey in Shanghai. Napolitano received a ticket to the main draw, and with it a check for $18 thousand (about 1.8 million rubles). Mark earned twice as much. But these prize money will most likely be reduced, because for such an offense the Player Code of Conduct provides for a fine, the amount of which will be determined based on the results of the proceedings. For reference, at Grand Slam tournaments you can lose $20 thousand (about 2 million rubles) just for incorrectly touching the judges, but this is a big blow.