By Scott Spits
Australian tennis player Marc Polmans has expressed his regret after the tennis ball he whacked “in the heat of the moment” hit a chair umpire in the face.
Polmans, 26, was disqualified from the Shanghai Masters during qualifying over the incident, which happened after he squandered a match-point opportunity.
Victory would have given Polmans a berth in the main draw of the ATP 1000 event. He hit a ball in anger while leading Italian Stefano Napolitano 7-6 (7-3), 6-6 (6-5), and it hit umpire Ben Anderson.
“An update from me – the umpire, Ben, has accepted my apology for my actions,” Polmans posted on X, the social media site formerly known as Twitter.
“He knows it was unintentional, and I shanked the ball on the frame in frustration in the heat of the moment.
“We both move on ... It was a high-pressure situation and I should have reacted better.”
Australian player Marc Polmans.Credit: Getty Images
The Australian world No.140 appeared to be attempting to hit a ball out of the court, but instead it hit umpire Anderson sitting in an elevated position above the court.
Tennis officialdom comes down heavily on players for incidents which threaten the safety of umpires, lines people or ball boys.
Australian tour veteran John Millman on Tuesday said there were “no excuses” for player indiscretions but said Polmans would be extremely remorseful.
“Really hope the umpire is okay. They should be safe working in their environment. No excuses for this,” said Millman on X.
“No one would feel worse than Marc about this. He’s possibly the nicest person I know.”
Nick Kyrgios, referring to one of his own fines, which cost him nearly $30,000, also posted on X: “Interested to see what the fine will be. All things considered (15 thousand pounds) for the bottle shake at queens.”
Men’s grand slam record holder champion Novak Djokovic was famously disqualified from the 2020 US Open in the fourth round after he inadvertently hit a line judge in the throat with a ball smacked in anger.
At the time, the Serbian held 17 major titles but now has a record 24. One year later Djokovic returned to Flushing Meadows in New York on the verge of claiming the grand slam but missed it after losing the final to Russian Daniil Medvedev.
Novak Djokovic and the linesperson incident in 2020.Credit: Getty
Djokovic apologised to US Open officials after his indiscretion three years ago.
“This whole situation has left me really sad and empty,” he said at the time. “I checked on the linesperson and the tournament told me that thank God she is feeling OK. I’m extremely sorry to have caused her such stress. So unintended. So wrong.
“As for the disqualification, I need to go back within and work on my disappointment and turn this all into a lesson for my growth and evolution as a player and human being,” Djokovic added. “I apologise to the US Open tournament and everyone associated for my behaviour.”
In another incident, world No.30 Denis Shapovalov was defaulted and fined after hitting a chair umpire in the eye with a ball during a Davis Cup tie in 2017. Umpire Arnaud Gabas suffered a fractured bone under his left eye and needed surgery.
Shapovalov was immediately remorseful, saying: “I feel incredibly ashamed and embarrassed and I just feel awful for letting my team down, for letting my country down, for acting in a way that I would never want to act. I can promise that’s the last time I will do anything like that. I’m going to learn from this and try to move past it.”
Polmans has a career-high ranking of 116 achieved in 2020. He also has a career-high ATP doubles ranking of 68.
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