Rafael Jodar has drawn criticism for his behaviour towards a ball kid during his fourth-round win at the Shanghai Masters, but questions have been raised about the call that sparked his tantrum.

The Spaniard dropped the first set against Botic van de Zandschulp and, after a shot in the opening game of the second set was called long, he took his frustration out on a ball kid.

Jodar had a break point at 30-40 and played a backhanded passing shot down the line, but it was ruled to have gone over the baseline and the 12th seed was clearly exasperated by the call as he gestured to the chair umpire.

At the end of the point, he went over to the ball kid and was overheard saying: “¡Dame la puta toalla, coño!” which translates to “Give me the f***** towel, damn it!”

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Uruguayan chair umpire Jimmy Pinoargote gave the youngster a code violation for unsportsmanlike conduct with the official telling him: “I understand, Rafa, but not like this. Rafa, ask me and I will ask them about it, but not like this.”

The 12th seed then tried to deny he made those remarks, but Pinoargote stuck to his guns.

Replays showed that the shot from Jodar missed the mark by several centimetres, but former doubles world No 1 Rennae Stubbs was not convinced it was long.

“Got to say, I saw the replay of Jodar and that call, and that ball mark was NOT correct. You can clearly see on the replay it looks almost in to be honest but to show a ball mark THAT far out, no way!!” she wrote on X.

But, of course, that does not excuse his behaviour towards the ball kid as the four-time women’s Grand Slam doubles winner criticised his actions.

“His behaviour towards the ball kid! Not ok!” Stubbs added.

Jodar ended up breaking the Van de Zandschulp serve in the opening game and, after they traded breaks midway through the set, he served out the set and took the match to a decider.

Two breaks in the third set earned him a 6-7 (4-7), 6-4, 6-4 win over the Dutchman as he set up a quarter-final clash against Casper Ruud.

But it is not the first time that the 20-year-old has been involved in an incident with ball kids in his short career as during this year’s French Open he appeared to push a ball kid during the clay-court Grand Slam at Roland Garros in June.