Rafael Jodar was issued a code violation warning after swearing at a ball kid during his fourth-round match at the Shanghai Masters on Wednesday. The No. 12 seed dropped the first set to Botic van de Zandschulp before recovering to claim a 6-7(4) 6-4 6-2 victory.
Frustration boils over
Jodar lost a tight opening set in a tiebreak and then missed two break point opportunities at the start of the second set. He was visibly annoyed, crouching to the ground and raising his arms in disbelief, and became agitated while waiting for a ball kid to bring him a towel between points.
“Give me the f***ing towel, d*** it,” the frustrated Spaniard muttered as he took the towel. Chair umpire Jimmy Pinoargote overheard him and issued an unsportsmanlike conduct warning. Jodar walked to the chair to plead his case in Spanish, but it was to no avail.
Commentators weigh in
“Obviously, Jodar had sworn in Spanish there, it was picked up by Jimmy,” commentator Nick Lester said. Robbie Koenig added: “If nobody understands it, only the chair umpire can really understand it, is it still a code violation?”
The 20-year-old eventually accepted the warning and played on, managing to break in that game. He went on to reach his fourth Masters 1000 quarter-final, all of which have come since April.
Comeback king
The 12th seed has now come back from a set down in all three matches he has played this fortnight. “I'm very happy how the week is going for me. In this case, I've already done three comebacks, losing the first set in all three matches. But I'm very proud of my fight and the spirit of fighting always, and super happy to be in the quarter-finals here for the first time in Shanghai,” he said.
Jodar will now face No. 20 seed Casper Ruud, who advanced when Felix Auger-Aliassime picked up a knee injury and was forced to retire just 35 minutes into their match on Wednesday. The two have never met on the match court before.
“We are both in the same situation, I didn't play him, he didn't play me, so we don't really know. But we will both do our best to come out on top. I'm sure it will be a good match if we both play well,” Ruud said. “We were just teammates in the Laver Cup team, so we had some practices together. He's a very nice kid, or nice young guy, one of the younger guys on tour. The year he's had has been unbelievable to watch from the outside, and now I have a chance to play him, so I'm excited.”
