WATCH: Alex Michelsen controversially escapes default after hitting fan as Denis Shapovalov is left unimpressed
Inconsistency in tennis officiating is back in the news after Alex Michelsen was allowed to continue playing despite accidentally hitting a spectator with a ball when his frustrations boiled over during the Winston-Salem Open final.
Playing in his third ATP Tour singles final, Michelsen took on Lorenzo Sonego at the ATP 250 event, but he made a shocking start as he was broken twice in the opening four games as the Italian raced into a 4-0 lead.
And it was in the fourth game of the match with just 14 minutes on the clock when the drama unfolded as the American was 30-40 down on his own serve when he sent a return from Sonego long, handing the Italian the second break.
The 20-year-old then took a ball out of his pocket and smashed it into the crowds, hitting one of the spectators. He immediately knew that he made a mistake as he apologetically clutched his face before later apologising.
Chair umpire Aurelie Tourte checked on the spectator and then had a brief chat with Michelsen, who in turn mouthed “I’m so sorry to the spectator “.
Tourte didn’t consult with the tournament supervisor and only gave Michelsen a warning for unsportsmanlike conduct.
Sonego didn’t have any complaints and play was allowed to continue with the Italian going on to win the match 6-0, 6-3 in 64-minutes as claimed his fourth ATP singles trophy.
Denis Shapovalov was also left unimpressed as he was recently defaulted after he swore at a spectator who heckled him during the quarter-final of the Citi DC Open.
The Canadian was very outspoken about his disqualification as he felt the rules need to be changed to protect players against abusive spectators while he also this week complained that “Different rules for different players” after anti-doping authorities opted not to ban Jannik Sinner after he failed two drug tests.
That was very close #WSOpen pic.twitter.com/7eg6jDjG8K
— Tennis TV (@TennisTV) August 24, 2024
The International Tennis Integrity Agency (ITIA) declared that the world No 1 bore “no fault or negligence” after he tested positive for the banned substance clostebol at the Indian Wells Open in March.
Shapovalov first tweeted “I might have to pin this tweet soon ” in reference to his “Different rules for different players” and then followed it up with: “I love how they say rules are rules until they suddenly aren’t.”
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The Michelsen incident was similar to the 2021 US Open when Novak Djokovic was disqualified after he accidentally hit a line person in the throat when he tried to return a ball to a ball kid.
Australia’s John Millman tweeted: “It was very reminiscent of Novak Djokovic’s inadvertent ball hit at a line judge at the 2021 US Open, which hurt her throat and resulted in the Serbian’s automatic disqualification.”
