Denis Shapovalov fuming over latest heckling incident as he calls out ATP after ‘heated’ Cincy episode
The ATP Tour has come under fire again from Denis Shapovalov following another spectator-related incident at the Cincinnati Open.
Barely two weeks after Shapovalov was defaulted from his match against Ben Shelton in Washington following a verbal altercation with a fan, the issue of crowd is behaviour is back in the spotlight.
This time Jordan Thompson’s first-round match against Ugo Humbert at Cincinnati is at the centre of controversy with the former targetted by a fan, who reportedly had a bet on Humbert.
A Twitter user provided a detailed account of the incident starting off with the following post: “Two fans in the front row of Thompson vs Humbert @CincyTennis have heckled with Thompson twice now. First time Thompson was clearly agitated.”
The second update went as follows: “Seems like Thompson just complained. Chair umpire Mo Lahyani trying to get their attention to signal for them to quiet down. The two young men seem to be avoiding eye contact with him. Hopefully they quiet down anyway.”
The user then added: “Getting more heated. Thompson directly interacting with them after a third roasting from the fans.”
After one of the men left, chair umpire Lahyani spoke with the second spectator, but he was allowed to remain in the arena and it was then revealed that he had a bet on Humbert.
“Security asking the man to quiet down or he will be thrown out. This is at the changeover 6-3, 2-5 with Humbert leading. For a second time the white shirt man mentioned having a bet on Humbert and argued his case.”
The spectator continued to heckle Thompson and eventually told the Australian “I want to see Nick Kyrgios, not Jordan Thompson!”
The heckler eventually left and Thompson went on to win the match, but Shapovalov quoted the post and X and wrote: “So @atptour how long are we going to keep allowing these things to go on?”
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The Canadian himself was on the receiving end of heckling the latter stages of the second set of his quarter-final against Shelton and the chair umpire and ATP supervisor decided to default him after he was overheard swearing.
The former world No 10 was fined after the incident, but he was allowed to keep his ranking points and prize money.
In a statement on social media, Shapovalov urged the ATP to “protect” players.
“We all work extremely hard – our tennis careers are our lives and should not be derailed by unnecessary, subjective ruling,” he wrote. “I also hope the ATP can put better rules in place for protecting players from abusive fans.”
It remains to be seen if the ATP will announce additional measures to protect players from hecklers.
