Fernando Verdasco: Judy Murray joins criticism of Spanish tennis player after video showed him berating ball boy

The world No 28 reacted angrily to a ball boy not bringing him his towel quick enough

Judy Murray has hit out at Fernando Verdasco after the world No 28 tennis player berated a ball boy for not bringing his towel quick enough.

The Spaniard has been strongly criticised for his behaviour during his semi-final defeat by Yoshihito Nishioka at last week’s Shenzhen Open, just a day after beating Andy Murray, Judy’s son, in straight sets.

A video of Verdasco shouting angrily towards a young ball boy circulated on social media over the weekend and led to many sporting figures condemning his actions, and Murray joined the growing chorus of criticism by suggesting a rule change to remove the duty of tending to players’ towels by ball boys and girls.

“What about a rule that makes players get their own towels? And the ball kids just look after the tennis balls,” Murray wrote on Twitter, adding an angry emoji for good measure and tagging in both the ATP and WTA accounts to get her point across.

The current GB Fed Cup captain Anne Keothavong also took a negative view of Verdasco’s actions, adding: “I can’t stand this.”

The incident has attracted extra attention given that towel rails are to be introduced at the Next Gen ATP Finals next November, the end of season tournament for the best Under-21 players in the world, in a trial that could see them implemented across the season in the future.

The move is aimed to “remove the onus on ball kids to handle towels” and avoid any further incidents like this.

Having beaten Murray 6-4, 6-4 on Friday, Verdasco was knocked out by Japan’s Nishioka in Saturday’s semi-finals in a 6-1, 3-6, 6-7 (5-7) loss, with Nishioka going on to win the Shenzhen Open title by beating Pierre-Hugues Herbert 7-5, 2-6, 6-4.

Verdasco has been heavily criticised for his reaction towards a ball boy over the weekend (EPA)

Verdasco’s outburst comes at a time when extra scrutiny is being placed over the behaviour of tennis players following the incident at the US Open involving Serena Williams. The 23-time Grand Slam champion was involved in a furious row with umpire Carlos Ramos during her defeat in the final against Naomi Osaka, which resulted in here receiving three code violations for varying offences and the penalty of conceding a game to her opponent.