WATCH: Furious Carreno Busta Pushes Umpire During Moment Of Madness, Avoids DQ
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Pablo Carreno Busta could receive a punishment from the ATP after shoving an umpire during a heated row at an ATP Challenger event.
33-year-old Carreno Busta is a veteran of the ATP Tour. His outstanding career has included two US Open semifinals, and the Spaniard holds a deserved reputation as one of the sport's most dogged and determined players.
His resilience was proven when he bounced back from over a year out from February 2023 until May 2024 with a severe elbow injury. Although no longer in his prime, Carreno Busta remains a more than capable player.
However, Carreno Busta has always had a fiery side. An infamous example was him leaving the court by screaming and shouting at the umpire because he felt he had made a mistake in a long and grueling battle with Kei Nishikori at the 2019 Australian Open.
What Carreno Busta did during his 2025 Girona Open match against Iliyan Radulov could get him into much more trouble. In the second point of the deciding set tiebreak, a line judge called one of Radulov's shots out.
The umpire then inspected the mark and determined it was in, enraging Carreno Busta. He was absolutely adamant that his opponent's shot landed out and could not believe the umpire had ruled against him.
Carreno Busta demanded that the umpire call the supervisor to the court. Although becoming frustrated about close calls is understandable, what the former world No. 10 did next was utterly indefensible.
While calling for the supervisor, Carreno Busta put two hands on the umpire and shoved him. The Spaniard playing on home soil did not stop some audible annoyance from the crowd whenever he did that.
Carreno Busta could easily have been defaulted for doing that. Some might argue that a push is not something to worry about, but there is never any excuse for getting physical with anyone during a match, whether an umpire or someone else.
Fortunately for Carreno Busta, the umpire took no action against him. Instead, he allowed the former US Open semifinalist to continue complaining before he sat down and refused to play until the supervisor was called.
Play did not resume for over 10 minutes. The supervisor came to the court, but that did not calm Carreno Busta. He remained furious and could not come to terms with the umpire's overruling of the line judge.
Although nothing justifies Carreno Busta putting his hands on the umpire, Rabulov's ball did look clearly out. The issue could have been avoided had the line judge's decision not been altered.
Carreno Busta managed to regroup and ultimately win the deciding set tiebreak. He lost in the quarterfinal to Marin Cilic, who became the lowest-ranked ATP champion in history last season.
Fiery interactions with umpires remain common in tennis. A notable recent example was Frances Tiafoe's extraordinary rant during his loss at the 2024 Shanghai Masters. The American repeatedly swore at the umpire after losing a first serve due to a second time violation.
