A 17-year-old Lithuanian tennis player was disqualified from the ITF J60 tournament in Lithuania despite winning his first-round match, after his thrown racket struck his opponent. Deividas Bandzevicius defeated Italy's Emiliano Bratomi 6-3, 4-6, 7-6(5) but, in celebration, launched his racket across the court, hitting Bratomi on the foot.
Bratomi attempted to block the projectile with his own racket but was unable to avoid contact. Bandzevicius immediately raised his hands in apology, but the umpire disqualified him under ITF rules prohibiting physical abuse. The rules define physical abuse as 'unauthorised touching of an official, opponent, spectator or other person'.
As a result, Bandzevicius was removed from the tournament, and his next scheduled opponent, Volodymyr Revenko, advanced directly to the quarter-finals without playing. Bratomi, having lost the match, could not progress despite the disqualification.
The incident drew comparisons to Novak Djokovic's disqualification from the 2020 US Open, when he accidentally hit a line judge with a ball. Djokovic was defaulted under similar rules, ending his tournament despite pleas to officials.
