The 11 ranked seed Canadian Shapovalov had his first-round game against the Italian teenager Jannik Sinner. It was a brilliant five-setter match in which the Canadian went down one set early on, he won two back but again conceded another.
The match went into the final set and Shapovalov won the first round 3-6, 6-3, 6-2, 4-6, 6-4. It was a taxing game for Denis, but even more challenging, rather funny was the fact that the Canadian wanted to go to take a pee, but he wasn’t allowed by the umpire. Naturally, he was upset after this refusal.
"What do you mean, I can't go? Are you going to disqualify me? I have to pee!” Shapovalov turned outrageous as he continued "I'm going to piss my pants!" he said. "I'm going to piss in a bottle."
After the high-pressure match ended after more than four hours, Denis explained himself and said that he has the smallest bladder and needs to pee after every set, essentially. "First of all, I was just blowing off steam, just kind of cooling my head, getting rid of it, but also I do think it's a dumb rule. Especially for me, I've got the smallest bladder ever, so I literally got to take a piss every set. So it's difficult, especially when you're on that court for so long. Before the match I'm trying to hydrate as much as possible, so yeah, I gotta pee, man," he said.
The tournament rules state that a player can only take a piss once in a three-setter and two breaks in a five-setter. But Shapovalov did not seem convinced by this rule. He plays Bernanrd Tomic in the next round.
(With Agency inputs)