Swedish tennis player Mikael Ymer was disqualified from the Lyon Open on Wednesday after smashing his racket against the base of the umpire’s chair.
The incident occurred after Ymer had pleaded with umpire Rogerio Santos to check a ball mark on the clay during his round of 16 match against France’s Arthur Fils.
Santos said he had seen the ball bouncing on the line and therefore wouldn’t check for a mark on the court – as umpires often do on clay – though Ymer was adamant the ball had gone out.
“I have never witnessed that a ref says, ‘I’m not going to go down and check the mark.’ It doesn’t happen. Why are you not checking the mark I’m giving to you?” Ymer said to Santos.
Fils then broke Ymer’s serve the following point to go 6-5 ahead, after which the world No. 53 smashed his racket twice into the umpire’s chair, breaking the racket head clean away from the handle on his second swipe.
A tournament official then told Ymer that he had been disqualified. The 24-year-old went over to congratulate Fils, who will face top seed Félix Auger Aliassime in the next round.
A similar incident involving German player Alexander Zverev occurred at the Mexican Open last year.
Zverev was handed a suspended eight-week ban and fined $25,000 for repeatedly hitting the umpire’s chair with his racket during a first-round doubles match.
At the time of the incident, he was ejected from the singles tournament, fined $40,000 and made to forfeit the $31,570 in prize money he had already accumulated, as well as all ATP Rankings points from the event.