(Reuters) – Damir Dzumhur was defaulted from his second qualifying round match in the ATP 500 event at Acapulco after the Bosnian walked off the court in anger over a line call on Sunday.
Dzumhur, who reached a career-high ranking of 23rd in 2018, lost his cool when a forehand from his Dutch opponent Botic van de Zandschulp was called in by the line judge with the 28-year-old serving at 5-5, 40-40 in the opening set.
Looking in disbelief Dzumhur dropped his racquet and approached the chair umpire for an overrule but to no avail. He subsequently lost the service game to trail 6-5.
The call seemed to have infuriated Dzumhur as he continued remonstrating with the chair umpire during the change of ends and received a code violation for unsportsmanlike conduct.
He returned to court and won the first point on his opponent’s serve with a crosscourt forehand winner but then again seemed to say something to the umpire that earned him a point penalty for unsportsmanlike conduct.
The world number 125 then walked off the court, threw his racquet on his bag and touched fists with Van de Zandschulp signalling his intention to not continue playing.
The tournament supervisor had a discussion with Dzumhur, who continued to speak angrily with the chair umpire as his opponent walked away.
The men’s governing body ATP did not immediately respond to request for comment on the incident.
(Reporting by Sudipto Ganguly in Mumbai; editing by Christian Radnedge)
