"It's not fair, that's not tennis": Shapovalov left unimpressed by distraction tactics of Albot in now suspended Wimbledon clash

Canada’s Denis Shapovalov has been left unimpressive with tactics used by his opponent Wimbledon’s first-round opponent Radu Albot.

The 24-year-old’s opener at the third Grand Slam of the year, which has been played in London, was suspended because of bad weather on Monday.

He lost the first set with a score of 7-5 and was equal in the second (2-2) when the match came to a halt due to weather conditions.

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In the first set, the Moldovan tennis star changed his returning style when the set was tied at 5-5, in a visible attempt to distract his opponent.

The world number the 29-seed, while speaking to the media after the match, expressed his displeasure over an incident that took place in the first set.

“He's jumping around like this, I mean it's a joke, nobody does that, it's an absolute joke that you're doing this. I'll start doing the same and then we can have a party over here. I mean, it's not fair, that's not tennis. The sole purpose of this is to distract me, that's just hindrance.”

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This is only the third time — and the first time on a grass surface — that both players are meeting at the tennis court. In the previous meetings, both players won one time each.

The first time when both players faced off was in 2020 in Sofia where Albot came out on top with a score of 6-2, 6-4.

In the second meeting two years later, Shapovalov returned the favour in Korea with a win in straight sets with a score of 6-2, 6-2.

Denis Shapovalov

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