The Shanghai Masters 1000 begins on Wednesday, at least the main draw, but in the qualifying phase Marc Polmans has starred in one of the images of the tournament.
The Australian, after missing a match point, as a result of frustration, threw a ball directly into the chair umpire's face. An unfortunate action, but one that has served to disqualify him directly from the tournament without being able to finish the match.
He faced the Italian Stefano Napolitano in a match that was tied until the end. The first set was won by Polmans himself and in the second set tiebreaker, with match point in his favor, he hit a volley into the net. That failure caused Polmans to despair and he hit the ball angrily with the bad luck that went into the referee's face (they were 7-6 (3) and 6-6 (6-6 in the tie break of the second) to the Australian).
This image was reminiscent of Novak Djokovic at the 2020 US Open, when the Serbian tennis player hit a line judge's throat and was also disqualified. The rule of tennis in this regard is inflexible: if you hit someone with the ball out of play, it leads to disqualification.
