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MONTREAL – In the wake of the default of Denis Shapovalov at the Mubadala Citi DC Open last Friday, the players in Montreal this week asked about the issue were pretty united that the original penalty was too harsh.

In the wake of the default, Shapovalov had all the ranking points he earned (100) and all his prize money ($53,240 US) taken away.

On Monday, upon appeal, those were restored. Shapovalov still received a fine of $36,400 US – which he said he also will appeal.

But it didn’t change the principle – at least for his countryman and doubles partner this week, Vasek Pospisil.

Sleepless nights for Shapo in D.C. default drama

Pospisil, who has a wild card into the main draw of the Omnium Banque Nationale and will play his first ATP-level main-draw match since last year’s tournament in Toronto, and only his third since Sept. 2022, is also the co-founder and an executive member of the PTPA.

That’s the nearly four-year-old players’ association he founded with Novak Djokovic that still hasn’t gained any official traction in terms of its impact on professional tennis.

But one goal of the association is player advocacy. And Pospisil was unequivocal in his support for changing the rules that result in a punishment that is far too severe for the particular offence.

Rather than publish select quotes, have a listen at everything Pospisil had to say on the matter.

OpenCourt · Vasek Pospisil – On Shapovalov

Zverev, on levels of infractions

As for Alexander Zverev, he said he didn’t see the incident. But he said the ATP had an appeals process that did its job.

“With the ATP, you can appeal things, you can appeal decisions, and then the ATP has a second look at it. I think the same with Rublev in Dubai was the case. Sometimes when the ATP is wrong, they admit they’re wrong, and then they take back their decision. I don’t know what the case was with Denis, but probably that was the case. He got the points and he got the prize money back,” Zverev said.

“I mean, if he’s down match point, most likely he would have lost the match anyway. So it’s not like he got defaulted at 5-5 in the third set. So at least that’s not too big of a deal, I guess, for him.”

Zverev Acapulco sanctions suspended, pending choir boy behaviour for 12 months

Zverev added that in his default case – the notorious one in Acapulco in 2023 – there was nothing to appeal.

“I think there are defaults where it’s very, very obvious that you did something wrong. To be very fair, in my case, in Acapulco, it was very, very obvious. I didn’t even appeal anything. It was the worst moment in my career,” he said. “But in other cases, there are moments Probably like with Denis – I don’t know, again, I didn’t see it – where if you’re just getting a point penalty on match point, it’s counted as a default, but it’s just a point penalty. It’s not a default at a score where you can still continue playing. I think that is very different.”

Medvedev says ATP unclear in its direction

Daniil Medevev also weighed in on l’affaire Shapovalov. As he’s in Montreal, he spoke in French.

Here it is.

《 L'ATP, j'ai l'impression qu'ils ne savent pas où ils vont 》 – Daniil Medvedev sur les sanctions contre les joueurs qui s'énervent sur le terrain, après la controverse Shapovalov.#ATPtour #OBN24 #BNO24 #Medvedev #Shapovalov pic.twitter.com/ByKqpSE5DW

— mathieu prost (@mathieuprost) August 5, 2024

Medvedev said this:

“We don’t exactly see on TV what happened. But from what I hear, it merits a warning, maybe a fine after the match. Disqualification? I didn’t see him insult a line judge, someone who’s involved in the match. So I was very surprised to see it on the internet. At first, I thought, ‘What did he do? Did he hit someone on purpose with the racquet? Did he throw the racquet and it hit somebody?’ “

“These days, the ATP does some things well, some things less well. But I feel like they don’t know where they’re going. If they want to have people move around, everybody talking around the court – because they’re doing trials – then the players should also be more expressive. They want to be a little like Formula 1, football. But in that case, you don’t ask the players, “You, you stay calm, you be a robot”, but around them it’s a circus, a show. You don’t do that.

“So they have to make it that it’s more clear for the players, and the fans, what you can do and what you can’t do. Because at that moment, in Denis’s disqualification, it wasn’t clear what we should do – neither the players, nor the fans.”

As the incident occurred, opponent Ben Shelton also was Team Shapo.

He was about to win the match, but the American lefty didn’t want to win that way. He didn’t want the delay for the supervisor to come out – just before he was about to serve on match point. He’d looked seemingly quite happy to forget the whole thing and wrap it up.

“6-3, 6-6 default, that’s what you did,” Shelton said to supervisor Roland Herfel after it was all over.

It should be noted that the match was still considered a completed match in the sense that it’s a win on Shelton’s record. And it didn’t affect the points he earned. So he had no ulterior motive in trying to prevent the default.

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