{"id":41908,"date":"2021-09-14T19:51:31","date_gmt":"2021-09-14T23:51:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/?p=41908"},"modified":"2021-09-14T20:22:23","modified_gmt":"2021-09-15T00:22:23","slug":"tennys-sandgren-defaulted-cary-challenger","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/tennis\/2021\/09\/14\/tennys-sandgren-defaulted-cary-challenger\/","title":{"rendered":"Tennys Sandgren Defaulted in Cary Challenger First Round for Striking Linesman"},"content":{"rendered":"

Well, that wasn’t the debut that Tennys Sandgren was looking for at the Atlantic Tire Championships Challenger<\/a> event in Cary.<\/p>\n

Things were going relatively smooth for #1 seed Sandgren during the early stages of his first round match against Christopher Eubanks. He was up a break in the first set, *1-0, and was 40-30 ahead in his service game.<\/p>\n

However, when Sandgren sent a forehand unforced error long to go to deuce and was clearly agitated with him.<\/p>\n

From there, a bizarre and disappointing sequence of events unfolded for Sandgren (video below).<\/p>\n

Although much of what occurred was off-camera, it appeared that a ball kid accidentally bounced a ball that hit Sandgren in the groin, immediately apologizing with a “Sorry.”<\/p>\n

However, Sandgren, possibly having frustrations well-beyond the missed forehand, given his lackluster season, lashed out in anger.<\/p>\n

Although it wasn’t in-view of the camera, one can clearly hear Sandgren take a swing in anger that struck most likely a linesperson.<\/p>\n

While Sandgren did give a “sorry,” for what he did and gave an apologetic shrug, it ultimately cost him the match.<\/p>\n

The chair umpire stated, “I got to call him (the supervisor) to the court,” first giving Sandgren a point penalty and then ultimately, in collaboration for the supervisor, defaulting him.<\/p>\n

Eubanks won *0-1, 40-40, default.<\/p>\n

For Sandgren, it was yet another loss in a fairly miserable 2021 campaign. He’s now 8-20 on the year and has fallen<\/a> from World No. 49 at the beginning of 2021 to World No. 103 this week.<\/p>\n

With a short stay in the Cary draw this week, Sandgren should have plenty of time to reflect on what he did and ty to change his attitude on the court.<\/p>\n

You can watch the whole interaction beginning at around the 19-minute mark in the video below.<\/p>\n