Rafael Jodar admits 'mistake' after angry outburst at Shanghai Masters ball boy

The Spaniard was issued a warning by chair umpire Jimmy Pinoargote after losing a point against Botic van de Zandschulp.

During the 20-year-old's three-set victory, Jodar shouted, "Dame la puta toalla, cono!" ("Give me the f****** towel, damn it!") at a ball kid, prompting Pinoargote to issue a code violation for unsportsmanlike conduct.

Jodar addressed the matter on Friday after beating Casper Ruud in the quarter-finals.

The World No 12 acknowledged that his behaviour was unacceptable, saying he would learn from the incident and stressing that he has a lot of "respect" for ball kids.

Jodar, who defeated the Norwegian 4-6, 6-4, 6-3 to reach the semi-finals in Shanghai, admitted his frustrations had got the better of him and that he "couldn't control his emotions".

When asked about the incident, he told reporters, "I would like to explain that. Yeah, it was my mistake. After the match, I thought about it, and I shouldn't have done that to the ball kid. It was my mistake.

"I respect a lot the ball kids and the umpires in the match, in all the matches and all the tournaments. I shouldn't have treated the ball kid the way I did.

"I was very frustrated because of how the match was going for me. It was a very close point. And, yeah, I didn't mean to hurt the feelings of the ball kid or anything; I was just frustrated with myself. Yeah, I couldn't control my emotions at that point in the match.

"So, yeah, it was my mistake, and I'll try not to do it again, because that's not the right way to treat the ball kids. I respect their job a lot and, yeah, it wasn't anything against him or against any ball kids or umpire.

"After what I did, I should have, you know, accepted the warning that I got because it was totally right and the umpire made the right decision."

Jodar was then pressed on whether he had apologised to the ball boy or, and the young Spanish star admitted he would like to say sorry to him and try to make things right.

He added, "I would like to apologise to the ball kid. If I have any chance to see him here at the venue, I'll try to tell him that I'm very sorry about my act and the way that I acted in that moment, and I'll never do it again.

"As I am, you know, learning how to do the forehand or how to do the backhand or how to do the serve, I'm also learning how to behave on the court. There's still a lot of things that I have to behave (work on), so I'm not perfect; I'm a human, I make mistakes, so I'll learn from this mistake to not do it again in the next one."

READ MORE: Rafael Jodar loses his cool with ball boy as umpire issues code violation