Forza Italia
Denis Shapovalov tells entire stadium of Italians to “SHUT THE F—K UP!” while defeating Italian player at Italian Open
Well folks, as if international tensions weren’t high enough already, we now have a conflict brewing between Canada and Italy. On Monday, at the Italian Open in Rome, another in a long line of temperamental young tennis lunatics, Denis Shapovalov squared off against Turin native Lorenzo Sonego in the first round. Toward the end of the second-set, with the Canadian-born Shapovalov down three points to four, he took issue with a call on the court. The umpire came down to look at a ball mark on Sonego’s side of the net and in the heat of the debate, Shapovalov stepped across the boundary to show the umpire the mark in question. The rules, however, state you cannot cross the net mid-match, and Shapovalov was handed a one-point penalty.
As you’ve probably already guessed, Shapovalov didn’t like that one bit, and began arguing with tournament officials over the ruling. Antsy and looking to aid Sonego’s cause, the Roman crowd began to mercilessly boo Shapovalov as he pleaded his case.
This enraged the admittedly pretty-easy-to-enrage Shapovalov further and he snapped, wheeling on the crowd mid-sentence to bellow one of the great SHUT THE F—K UPs in the SHUT-THE-F—K-UP history. Sound up.
Absolutely iconic moment of tennis petulance right there. Shapovalov would settle down and eventually go on to win 7-6, 3-6, 6-3. After the match he could be heard apologizing to the chair umpire, saying, “Sorry about that, I know you were just following the rules,” but the damage, with the Italian crowds at least, was done. Needless to say, if he doesn't watch his mouth, Shapovalov might spend the rest of the tournament sleeping with the fishes