Botic Van de Zandschulp handed warning after dangerously launching his racket into the crowd

There was heated scenes in the Shanghai Masters first round earlier today, with Dutchman Botic Van de Zandschulp launching his racket into the crowd after he was broken in the first set against Nuno Borges. The Portuguese player would beat Van de Zandschulp 7-6(5), 7-6(5).

The incident ocurred in the fifth game, where his opponent snuck in front with an important break of throw. The Dutchman was furious that he had fallen behind and lashed his anger out by launching a ball into the crowd before throwing his racket onto his chair. It bounced up from the seated area and flew up into the stand. Fortunately, it did not make any contact with anyone, which also saved him from a possible disqualification.

Unfazed with what just happened, Van de Zandschulp sat in his chair to mull over what had just happened on the court. Swiftly after, he got up a raised a hand of apology to the fans behind him, before picking up his racket and assessing the damage. The umpire was a little more concerned about the supporters, as he turned in his chair and asked them: "Are you okay?" Subsequently, he was given a warning for his heated actions.

He composed himself and managed to clinch a hugely important break of serve as Borges was trying to wrap up the set. He had two previous opportunities to break but could not take them. The set went to an inevitable tiebreak, where Borges squeezed himself in front at the right time to pick up the first set.

The second set was serve dominant, with only one break point cropping up. It went to a second tiebreak, and with the score in it 5-5, Borges once again stole a march on his on-court rival to take the second set, and ultimately victory.

Van de Zandschulp has not been in the best form recently. He made the Winston-Salem Open final just before the US Open, defeating the likes of Sebastian Baez and Giovanni Mpetshi-Perricard along the way. However, he was stopped in his tracks by Hungarian Marton Fucsovics, who clinched the title. He has only won a single tie since. His US Open was cut short by Holger Rune in straight sets, before failing to pick up a win for his country in the Davis Cup tie against Argentina, losing both his singles and doubles match. He lost in the first round of the Chengdu Open to qualifier Mackenzie McDonald, before failing to qualify for the China Open. This opening round loss in Shanghai is another major blow for him, with the incident in the first set possibly related to his barren run of performances.