DENIS SHAPOVALOV SAYS he ‘blacked out’ for 10 minutes after striking an umpire in the eye with tennis ball during his Davis Cup match against Great Britain’s Kyle Edmund.
The Canadian teenager was trailing Edmund by 6-3 6-4 2-1, when he lost his temper and hit the ball in anger, which inadvertently hit umpire Arnaud Gabas.
The moment of madness from the 17-year-old cost him dearly as he was immediately disqualified after the incident.
“I remember hitting the ball and the next thing I didn’t even realise where it went and then I turned over and I see the official bending down holding his eye,” Shapovalov told BBC Radio 5 Live.
“I was in complete shock and regret right away. I kind of blacked out for the next 10 minutes maybe.
He added: “I’m very lucky that he is okay, because if things had gone worse I don’t think I would have been able to forgive myself and I don’t think I would be able to move past it.”
“After everything had happened I was in the locker room and I was asking if I could go see him, see if he was okay.
“He was saying things like I had the whole stadium, and that it was going to leave a nice mark. He told me he was okay.”
Shapovalov also apologised for the incident on Twitter yesterday.
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