Canadian tennis star Denis Shapovalov has called out the Queen’s Club, accusing them of being discrimatory against women. Shapovalov, 23, is competing at the Queen’s Club and he is not happy about the fact that female players are not allowed to train at the club.
The Queen’s Club is a private members event, and as an ATP event only, ATP players are allowed to practice at the club in the first five days of the event, even if they have exited the tournament. At the Queen’s Club, Shapovalov lost in the singles event first round, but has been through to the doubles semifinal with Rohan Bopanna.
“(It is) ironic that the Queen’s tennis club is named after a powerful and extraordinary woman and yet women continue to be discriminated against by not letting them train at the club when they need to prepare for Wimbledon,” Shapovalov wrote on Twitter.
Ironic that @TheQueensClub is named after a powerful, extraordinary woman yet is openly discriminating against professional female tennis players by not allowing them to train at the club when they need to prepare for @Wimbledon.
Time to review this policy #tennis #genderequality — Denis Shapovalov (@denis_shapo) June 17, 2022
Shapovalov lost early in the singles event at Queen’s
Shapovalov didn’t enjoy an impressive campain in the singles event as he was beaten by Amrican Tommy Paul in the first round.
Paul, 25, handed Shapovalov a 6-4 2-6 6-4 loss in their meeting. Paul made a strong start to the match, breaking Shapovalov in the opening game. Shapovalov had his chances to get back into the first set, but he missed out on a break point in the fourth game and on one more break point in the eighth game.
In the 10th game, Paul served out for the first set. After losing the first set, Shapovalov faced a break point in the third game, but managed to save and avoid going down by an early break. Shapovalov then went on a run, breaking Paul in back-to-back games to win the second set.
Paul bounced back after losing the second set as he broke Shapovalov in the seventh game to open a 4-3 lead. Paul had a chance to close out the match in the ninth game, but he missed out on a match point on Shapovalov’s serve.
However, failing to convert a match point in the ninth game didn’t impact Paul, who served out for the match in the 10th game.