Denis Shapovalov swears at fans in angry outburst at Italian Open

Denis Shapovalov, the world No16, went on a foul-mouthed tirade against the umpire and the Rome crowd on Monday, in the latest angry outburst by a men's tennis player.

The Canadian was locked in a three-hour battle with Italy's Lorenzo Sonego in the first round of the Internazionali BNL D'Italia, but was pushed to the brink of exasperation when he disagreed with some umpiring calls.

When a line call went against him, and with no HawkEye being used on the clay courts in Rome, he could not contain his fury. Already on a warning, he crossed the net and automatically got a code violation, earning a point penalty.

Fuming, he called the supervisor, and when the partisan crowd began jeering he turned to them and roared, "shut the f--- up!"

Bizarrely, when the umpire simply told him "that's just the rule", Shapovalov appeared not to know the basic protocol and ranted: "No it’s not. It’s stupid. That’s so unfair."

At the end, when he eventually emerged the 7-6(5) 3-6 6-3 victor of the fiery three-setter, he apologised to the umpire, saying: "I'm sorry, I know you're just following the rules."

"I mean, [I had] never obviously done it before, otherwise I would have known the rules," Shapovalov said of his action. "It was the heat of the moment so I got emotional. I need to be better with my behaviour.

"I apologised after. Obviously it was my mistake... I just need to improve with handling myself about that. I've played in Rome a lot of times. The fans love me here and I love the fans. So I think there's a huge love. Even after the match, there were a lot of people standing, waiting for pictures."

But his behaviour matched a pattern of top men's players losing their rag on court. In February Alexander Zverev drew huge criticism for violently attacking the umpire's chair with his racket, marginally missing official Alessandro Germani's feet. He was promptly ejected from the tournament and earned a eight-week suspended ban, but many argued the punishment was too lenient considering it was not the first time he had been called up for anger management issues on court.

Shapovalov was also chastised earlier this year, for calling umpires "corrupt" at the Australian Open, and Nick Kyrgios was fined in March for a verbal assault on umpire Carlos Bernardes at the Miami Open. The repeat episodes prompted ATP chairman Andrea Gaudenzi to send a warning to all players in April that unsportsmanlike conduct would not be tolerated.

Elsewhere on Monday, Naomi Osaka pulled out of Rome on the eve of her opening round, citing an Achilles injury which she picked up at the Madrid Open. "I need to be careful, especially in advance of Roland Garros," Osaka said.

It potentially opens up Emma Raducanu's side of the draw, as if she beats Bianca Andreescu on Tuesday, she might have met four-time major champion Osaka in the second round.

Meanwhile Dan Evans was knocked out 7-6(2) 6-2 by Georgia's Nikoloz Basilashvili, his third first-round exit in his last four clay court tournaments.

There was better news for three-time major champion Stan Wawrinka, who made a breakthrough in his return from a serious foot injury, winning his first tour-level match in 456 days against American Reilly Opelka 3-6 7-5 6-2.