Canada crushed after teen’s ball strikes umpire
Well, that was unexpected.
Denis Shapovalov defaulted the final rubber of the Canada-Great Britain Davis Cup tie on Sunday in Ottawa when he whacked a ball in anger and struck chair umpire Arnaud Gabas in the head after his serve was broken in the final set.
The 17-year-old left-hander from Richmond Hill, Ont., was already down two sets and down 2-1 in the third against Britain’s Kyle Edmund, the No. 47 player in the world rankings, but the misdeed resulted in immediate default.
It was an action that took the shine off what had been a good day for tennis in Canada. Vasek Pospisil of Vancouver extended the tie with a gritty performance in defeating Dan Evans 7-6 (3), 6-4, 3-6, 7-6 (5).
Britain will now face host France in April in the World Group quarter-finals of the annual international team tennis competition, while Canada must go through a playoff round in September.
The visitors came into the day with a 2-1 lead. Evans and Pospisil defeated Shapovalov and Edmund, respectively, in Friday singles, then Britain’s Jamie Murray and Dominic Inglot took the doubles against Canada’s Pospisil and Daniel Nestor on Saturday.
It didn’t look good for Pospisil when Evans ripped a backhand winner down the line to close out a service break in the third game of the opening set, then subsequently opened the Canadian’s next service game with a forehand winner down the other line and a backhand, cross-court winner to put Pospisil in an 0-30 hole.
However, the 26-year-old Pospisil rallied back to take that game and got the break back against Evans to even the set. By the time he recorded three aces and a service winner to seize a 5-4 lead, he had most of the Ottawa crowd in a cheery mood — raucous, even, but only when it was appropriate.
Not bad at all, as it turned out, for someone who had been the tennis equivalent of a game-time decision because of issues with his knee, back and quad.
“It was 50-50. If I had woken up the way I had woken up (Saturday), I wouldn’t have played, 100 per cent,” Pospisil said.
“The concern was whether my knee would hold. It hurt in the fourth, fifth set like it did a little bit in the doubles (Saturday). It kind of came on late in the match and my serve vanished.”