Aussie Tennis Player Disqualified At Shanghai Masters After Hitting Ball In the Umpire’s Face

Summary

• Shanghai Masters taking place from 04 Oct to 15 Oct
• Aussie tennis player hits ball into Umpires face in anger
• Marc Polmans was immediately disqualified and will not get any prize money despite winning R1

The Shanghai Masters started on 04 Oct and will run till 15 Oct at the Qizhong Forest Sports City Arena in the Minhang District.

This is one of the most popular stops on the Asian Tennis circuit and things have already heated up in the tournament after an unpleasant incident.

Aussie Player Hits Ball In Anger Into Umpires Face

Australian Marc Polmans who is ranked 140 in the world had a good start in the tournament after he won R1 by defeating Russia’s Alibek Kachmazov. He took on Stefano Napolitano from Italy in R2 in what turned out to be a very closely contested first set that went into a tie breaker. The tie breaker also turned into a nail biter and was at 6-6 (6-6) when Polmans lost a point and in doing so his cool.

Polmans had a chance to win the set but sent the ball into the net which then bounced back to him. In a fit of anger, he swung his racket and whacked the ball straight into the chair umpire Ben Anderson’s face and it really hit the British umpire flush in the face.

The video clip which has since gone viral clearly shows that Australian tennis player did not intentionally aim at the umpire. It was an unfortunate accident but caused because Polmans could not control his emotions.

ATP rules make it very clear that

Players shall not violently, dangerously or with anger hit, kick or throw a tennis ball within the precinct except in the reasonable pursuit of a point during a match (including warm-up). For the purposes of this rule abuse of balls is defined as intentionally hitting a ball out of the enclosure of the court, hitting a ball dangerously or recklessly within the court or hitting a ball with negligent disregard of the consequences.

Polmans Suspended And Will Not Get Paid

Polmans has since been suspended from the Shanghai Masters and will not be paid despite winning his first round at the tournament. If he had to win R2, he would have automatically qualified for the main draw for the ATP 1000 event.