Tennis player Shapovalov used foul language towards a fan and was disqualified and stripped of his prize money

Canadian tennis player Denis Shapovalov was disqualified during the quarterfinal match at the ATP 500 tournament in Washington.

In the second set of the match against the second seeded American Ben Shelton, the game was stopped with the score 6:7 (5:7), 6:6 (3:6). After an unsuccessful rally, the Canadian threw his racket and got into a verbal altercation with one of the spectators, allegedly using an obscene expression in his direction.

The chair umpire called the supervisor, after which he decided to disqualify Shapovalov. In response to this decision, the tennis player also shouted at the supervisor, using an obscene expression and the phrase “it’s not fair.”

After the match was stopped, the Canadian’s opponent stood up for him: Shelton argued with the judge and expressed sympathy for Shapovalov. Kazakhstani Alexander Bublik also expressed his support for the Canadian tennis player on social media.

“Are we competing in stupidity again?” Bublik wrote, addressing the ATP. “Next time we’ll get disqualified for looking at someone in the audience the wrong way, but at the same time, people in the stands can say and do whatever they want.”

Due to the disqualification from the match, Shapovalov will not earn ranking points and will not receive prize money for the tournament. The Canadian currently ranks 139th in the ATP rankings.