In an unlikely display, Roger Federer was seen losing his cool during his frustrating quarter-final tie against Alexander Zverev in the ongoing Shanghai Masters on Friday.
While he has been known for his unruly behaviour on the court in his early days, after developing a balanced and calm character of himself he has been an example of a good samaritan throughout his career.
Meanwhile, the 20-time Grand Slam winner was far from his best and failed to get an upper hand against Zverev in Shanghai. It annoyed the Swiss to his fullest and resulted in him whacking the ball every time a point was missed.
It all started after the umpire failed to inform Federer about getting the new balls. As it happens, the 38-year-old always changes his racquet when the new balls are out. But he was not able to use his new racquet and was visibly unhappy with the umpire.
As Zverev continued the dominance over him, Federer completely lost his cool and engaged with the umpire in a heated conversation.
“Why are you not reminding me? It’s the one thing in the whole match that I expect from you. 80 per cent of you guys never remind me. Every time. I told you like 10 minutes ago. I always end up looking like a fool,” Federer was seen saying.
With him serving a break down in the next game of the third set, the umpire levied a point penalty on Federer for ball abuse after he hit a ball in the crowd.
It enraged the world number three and he took part in a full-fledged argument with the umpire. The conversation ended up like this:
Umpire: “It is maybe not with full power but it is hitting the ball out.
Federer: “Well what’s the full reason?
Umpire: “It was hitting the ball out of the court. That is somewhere. We might lose the ball there.
Federer: “Do you not think we could get the ball back?
Umpire: “We could. Before you hit the ball there and almost broke the zip and now this is the second time.
Federer: “Why don’t you communicate with me at three-love so I know I’m at the edge?”
“Point deducted, Mr Federer”
Not often you see this…#RolexSHMasters pic.twitter.com/cnsdwBQBMu
— Tennis TV (@TennisTV) October 11, 2019
Momentarily it helped Federer as he took the game despite going two break points down. But he could not match with Zverev’s intensity as the 22-year-old won the third set to get his place sealed in the semi-final.