Controversy-hit David Nalbandian retains his 39th position in the ATP Ranking – Tennis News
Former world number three, David Nalbandian of Argentina, retained his 39th position in the latest ATP Singles Rankings released on Monday.
Nalbandian could have improved a lot had he not been disqualified from his AEGON Championships final on Sunday. The Argentinean was defaulted because of unsportsmanlike behaviour after he injured a lineman by his kick during the
title match at the grass courts of Queen’s Club.
The disqualification meant that Nalbandian neither received any ranking points from the event nor he got any prize money. The Argentinean has been banned from playing any tournament for eight weeks and there is a possibility that
he will be fined $10, 000.
He could have received 250 Ranking points if he would have won the event or at least 150 in case of losing it. It is pertinent to note that he Argentinean had already won the first set.
What exactly happened was that Nalbandian was pushed to the right side of the court, when he was facing a break point in the seventh game of the second set. The Argentinean failed to return that shot correctly and lost that point
and with it the game. At that moment, the 30-year old player kicked the advertisement board that was surrounding the line judge, which got broken and hit the latter.
After the incident, tournament supervisor, Tom Barnes, consulted with the chair umpire, Fergus Murphy, and after some discussion he awarded the match to Cilic according to the rules of International Tennis Federation and Association
of Tennis Players.
ATP’s Executive Chairman and President, Brad Drewett, said, "It’s an unfortunate situation for everyone involved, the spectators, the tournament, the sponsors, the players and the linesman. David certainly did not mean for this
to happen, however the rules are very clear in a situation like this and causing injury to someone is an automatic default for any player."
Nalbandian issued a statement of apology later, saying that he did not do it intentionally and was ashamed because of the event.
He stated, “I never intended to hit him, it was an unfortunate reaction in which I wanted to let off steam after losing a point. I had the opportunity to personally apologise to the line umpire for this regrettable act that I am
fully responsible for.”
The Cordoba, Argentina resident also extended his apology to all of his fans in his country and all around the world.
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