Denis Shapovalov Got Heated & Screamed At People To 'Shut The F*ck Up' During A Match

"Call the supervisor, that's bullish*t."

Denis Shapovalov fixing his racket. Right: Denis Shapovalov smiling.

Denis Shapovalov fixing his racket. Right: Denis Shapovalov smiling.

Senior Writer

It seems like things weren't exactly going Denis Shapovalov's way during a recent match in Italy.

The Canadian tennis star lashed out at the Italian Open on Monday, May 9, during his match with Lorenzo Sonego in Rome.

As the young athlete attempted to show the chair umpire a mark on his opponent's side of the court, Shapo decided to step over the net to more clearly point it out.

"Denis, because you crossed the net you're going to get another code violation," the umpire told him.

"I was just showing you the mark," Shapo said in his defence. "Call the supervisor, that's bullish*t."

"It's not fair, I was just showing you the mark. I'm not doing anything unsportsmanlike, how can you give me a penalty for that?"

"That's just the rule," the umpire replied.

The Canadian then tried to plead his case to the supervisor.

"I was not doing anything offensive, I was showing him a mark because he couldn't see it," he explained.

As he continued to get more heated, so did the spectators in the crowd who began booing the young athlete.

"Shut the f*ck up!" the 23-year-old yelled at them before turning back to the supervisor and announcing, "This is stupid."

Despite the brouhaha, Shapo pulled through and won the match.

According to the Canadian Press, he apologized to the umpire after the event.

"A lot of things happened in the heat of the moment. I need to be better with my behaviour,” he said. “It was my mistake. I’ll know the rule for next time. I definitely won’t step over the net.”

He also noted that the rules for fans who heckle could be stricter.

"I think in the NBA there's a lot of hecklers and stuff like that," he said, according to Reuters. "They're pretty strict, the security and everything, that (the fans) don't cross the line. If they do, they're kicked out right away."

He also said that the Italian fans showed him support after the whole situation.

"But in terms of going forward, I've played in Rome a lot of times," he shared. "The fans love me here and I love the fans... Even after the match, there were a lot of people standing, waiting for pictures, stuff like that."

Following the incident, he posted about his win on Instagram but didn't mention anything about his outburst

"See you again tomorrow!!" he wrote.

This isn't the first time Shapo has had an outburst on the court. In January he lashed out at a chair umpire while playing Rafael Nadal at the Australian Open, telling the official "You guys are all corrupt," which he later apologized for, according to SportsNet.

Fingers crossed things go smoother in his next matches!

Shapovalov hails from Richmond Hill, Ontario, and currently ranks at number 16 in the world for singles tennis.

He's set to face Nikoloz Basilashvili, a Georgian tennis player, at the Italian Open on Tuesday, May 10.

This article's cover image was used for illustrative purposes only.


  • Senior Writer

    Sarah Rohoman (she/her) was a Senior Writer with Narcity Media. She has worked at BuzzFeed Canada, Yahoo Canada, and CBC Radio in news, lifestyle, ecommerce, and social media. She has an MA in Journalism from Western University and a BA from McGill. She loves libraries, alpacas, and all things witchy.

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