DENIS Shapovalov has admitted he would never have been able to forgive himself if Davis Cup umpire Arnaud Gabas had been seriously injured by his ball-blasting antics on Sunday.
Shapovalov was immediately defaulted against Great Britain’s Kyle Edmund after angrily striking a ball, which then inadvertently caught Gabas in the eye.
The 17-year-old’s moment of madness cost him the match, which Edmund was already leading 6-3, 6-4, 2-1, and Canada the tie, as Britain won 3-2 to reach the quarter-finals.
Shapovalov has since been fined $7,000 (£5,623) by the International Tennis Federation, but while Gabas was left with a visible bruise, hospital checks showed no lasting damage to his cornea or retina.
“I’m very lucky that he is OK, because if things had gone worse I don’t think I would have been able to forgive myself and I don’t think I would be able to move past it,” Shapovalov told BBC Radio 5 Live.
“After everything had happened I was in the locker room and I was asking if I could go see him, see if he was OK.
“I got a chance to talk to him and he was actually so good about it, which was very mature of him. It was such a stupid move for me to do something like that.”
The reigning Wimbledon junior champion also expressed regret for Edmund and the British team, who were denied the satisfaction of completing a hard-fought victory.
“I also wanted to apologise to the British fans and to Kyle and the whole British team,” Shapovalov said.
“At the end of the day I was down a break in the third set and if the match had continued the odds are that Kyle being the great player he is and being down two sets to love I would have lost the match.
“I feel bad that I didn’t allow the British team to have the celebration that they deserved.”
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