In an incident involving the Shanghai Masters tennis tournament, an Australian tennis player, Marc Polmans, stepped into the limelight and hit the chair umpire, Ben Anderson, with the tennis ball on his face. However, no severe injuries were noticed.
Who is Marc Polmans?
Marc is a born South African who plays for Australia in tennis, ranking 116 in singles and 68 in doubles at the Association of Tennis Professionals. Other than ATP tour events, he competed in Grand Slam events like the US Open, Wimbledon, the French Open, and the Australian Open. He has set significant records in the 73-71 challenger category, with titles secured in the 2018 Launceston, 2019 Zhangjiagang, and 2019 Traralgon tournaments.
What exactly happened?
On October 3rd, Tuesday, Marc Polmans was competing against Stefano Napolitano, ranked 152 in the singles. Marc managed to succeed in the opener and was 6-5 up on Stefano Napolitano’s serve in the second set tiebreak. The score was 7-6(3), 6-6(6-5) and he was only two points away from securing his position in the master finals. However, luck didn’t favour him, leading him to lose the volley. This instigated frustration in him, causing him to hit the ball. The ball hit the net but unfortunately bounced back, narrowly moving past the ball person and hitting the chair umpire
in the face.
However, the umpire managed to avoid any severe injuries.Marc was immediately disqualified. Later, Reuters reported
that Marc would have to sacrifice the ranking points accompanied by the prize money that he had to earn from
the tournament.
However, he will receive no further information from the ATP Tours.
Attaining victory would have marked his first entry into the main draw of an ATP 1000 tournament.
What does Marc say about the situation?
The next day, Polmans tweeted on the popular medium of communication X, which was popular by its former name Twitter, “An update from me - The umpire, Ben, has accepted my apology for my actions; he knows it was unintentional, and I shanked the ball on the frame in frustration in the heat of the moment. We both move on. It was a high-pressure situation, and I should have reacted better.”
He apologised in front of the people, stating that he should have reacted better, exhibiting the values of calmness.
Colleagues to the rescue
John Milliman, a fellow Australian tennis star, also commented on X, claiming Polmans would be full of remorse for his
actions. World No. 33 also took to X with the note, “Really hope the umpire is okay. They should be safe working in their environment.
No excuses for this. No one would feel worse than Marc about this. He’s possibly the nicest person I know.”
One of Polmans's previous trainers reiterated “Having coached Marc @marcpolmans for two years, I can tell you he’s the nicest guy and wouldn’t harm a fly. I know he’ll be feeling so bad for his actions and will
totally own it.
Of course, I really hope the umpire is doing ok!”
The fanbase taking to social media
A mix of emotions emerged among the audience, with fans supporting the character of Marc Polmans while others wanted a harsh punishment to be imposed. Atwitter user tweeted that Marc should be imposed with hefty fines and a year-long ban on him to discourage such behaviour on the tennis court. Another account posted:
"Not intentional, but 100% worthy of a disqualification. Players really need to stop hitting balls like that, whether into the crowd, towards umpires, or line judges. None of them intend anything malicious,
but you are inevitably going to injure someone if you keep doing it.
What next?
Stefano Napolitano successfully advanced to the main draw in Shanghai after the disqualification of Polmans. The Shanghai Masters began on October 4 with 96 players prepared to showcase their skills on the tennis court, ready to win matches and defeat opponents. This event was cancelled consecutively for three years due to the COVID-19 outbreak, and yet again it is happening now in 2023. In the event's final match, Daniil Medvedev of Russia prevailed as the winner of the 2019 edition after securing a straight-set victory with a score of 6-4, 6-1 against Alexander Zverev, a player representing Germany.
The top two seeds in the tournament are Daniil Medvedev, the defending champion, and Carlos Alcaraz, who currently holds the second position in the world rankings. With the absence of Novak Djokovic, the current World No. 1, Medvedev and Alcaraz will aim to make a strong bid for the championship.
