Canadian tennis player Denis Shapovalov successfully appealed his disqualification from the quarterfinals of the Mubadala Citi DC Open, allowing him to retain his ranking points and prize money, as announced by the ATP on Monday.
The incident occurred during a match against American Ben Shelton, where Shapovalov lost the first set and was trailing in the second set tiebreaker. In a moment of frustration, Shapovalov threw his racket to the court and engaged in a verbal exchange with a fan in the stands, leading to an unsportsmanlike conduct code violation from the umpire.
As the situation escalated, the umpire called for a supervisor, resulting in Shapovalov's disqualification from the match. Typically, a player would lose ranking points and prize money in such circumstances, but the ATP deemed this penalty disproportionate for Shapovalov's actions.
However, Shapovalov will still face a $36,400 fine for the violation. Despite this setback, the 25-year-old player is set to compete in the National Bank Open in Montreal this week, with his first match scheduled against a qualifier on Wednesday.
