Marc Polmans, a tennis player from Australia, was removed from his qualifying match for the ATP Tour 1000 Shanghai Masters for hitting the umpire with the ball.
Polmans was extremely angry after wasting a second opportunity to win the match in a two hour and 34 minute long battle against Italian player Stefano Napolitano.
In the match, the player was ahead with a score of 7-6 (7-3) and 6-6 (6-6). However, during one point, he hit a return shot into the net. The ball rebounded towards him and in his attempt to hit it back, he accidentally struck British official Ben Anderson in the face from a short distance.
In 2017, there was a similar occurrence involving Canadian tennis player Denis Shapovalov during a Davis Cup match against Great Britain.
On that instance, the referee, Arnaud Gabas, sustained a broken eye socket. Anderson seems to have avoided any major injuries, as a tournament official stated that he was hit on the cheek and nose and has gone back to his hotel to rest.
Unfortunately, Polmans, currently ranked 140th in the world, will not receive any monetary or ranking benefits from his successful qualifying match against Alibek Kachmazov.
Possible reworded text: Additional consequences may be taken. On the social media platform X (formerly known as Twitter), Nick Kyrgios commented on his own fine of nearly A$30,000, stating, “I’m curious to know the amount of the fine. Taking everything into account, it’s £15,000 for the bottle shake at Queens.”
The 26-year-old Polmans was one of seven Australians in the second and final round of qualifying, four of whom reached the main draw to join another seven compatriots in the opening round.
Rinky Hijikata, the top seed in the qualifying round, defeated Benjamin Lock from Zimbabwe in 80 minutes with a score of 6-1, 6-4. Similarly, James Duckworth also won in straight sets with a score of 7-6 (8-6), 6-2 against his fellow Australian player, James McCabe.
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Dane Sweeny, ranked 256th in the world, emerged victorious with a score of 6-2, 6-1 against Seongchan Hong from South Korea. Meanwhile, Philip Sekulic, ranked 292nd, also secured a win of 6-4, 6-3 against France’s Arthur Weber.
Unfortunately, Luke Saville lost to Kazakhstan’s Mikhail Kukushkin with a score of 6-3, 6-3. Li Tu also put up a strong fight against American Aleksandar Kovacevic, but ultimately lost in three sets: 2-6, 7-6 (10-8), 5-7.
Due to their rankings, Alex de Minaur, Thanasi Kokkinakis, Jordan Thompson, Alexei Popyrin, Max Purcell, Chris O’Connell, and Aleksandar Vukic were all absent from the qualifying rounds.
World No 2 Carlos Alcaraz will make his Shanghai debut later in the week, while defending champion from 2019 Daniil Medvedev, Holger Rune, Casper Ruud, Jannik Sinner and Stefanos Tsitsipas are also among the field.
