Canadian tennis star Denis Shapovalov will keep his ranking points and prize money after successfully appealing his disqualification from the quarterfinals of the Mubadala Citi DC Open. The ATP, the governing body of men’s professional tennis, announced the decision on Monday.
Shapovalov’s disqualification stemmed from a heated incident during his match against American Ben Shelton on Friday. After losing the first set 7-6 (5), Shapovalov trailed 6-3 in a tiebreaker in the second set when he threw his racket to the court and began shouting at a fan in the stands. As Shelton was about to serve for triple match point, the 25-year-old Shapovalov again argued with a fan. This led to an unsportsmanlike conduct code violation from the umpire, who subsequently summoned a supervisor.
The ATP ultimately decided that the loss of ranking points and prize money, which is an automatic penalty for defaulting, was too harsh a punishment for Shapovalov’s actions. However, he will still have to pay a $36,400 fine for the violation.
Shapovalov is back in action this week at the National Bank Open in Montreal. He’ll start his tournament on Wednesday against a qualifier.
