—On a tennis court in Canada, Denis Shapovalov was fined 7000 dollars in 2017 for recklessly smacking a ball in anger and nearly blinding an umpire who required emergency surgery in an Ottawa hospital.
Now, in the Federal Court of Canada, Mr. Shapovalov is demanding independent Canadian journalist Christopher Johnson pay him 7500 dollars for asking him “abusive” questions about Mr. Shapovalov’s alleged infringement of Mr. Johnson’s copyright photographs. Without providing evidence or examples, he accused Mr. Johnson of “character assassination”, “extremely harmful” conduct and making submissions to the Court that are “scandalous, vexatious, abusive and include bald assertions of bad faith and ill-motives.”
“The Plaintiff’s actions are causing real harm,” Mr. Shapovalov’s lawyer Blake Hafso wrote in point 11 of Mr. Shapovalov’s written representations submitted in Federal Court on October 27, 2023. “Shapovalov submits the Plaintiff’s conduct is worthy of censure, rebuke and deterrence through a lump sum award of enhanced costs pursuant to Rule 401(2) in the amount of $7,500.00.”
Mr. Shapovalov’s submission further alleges that Mr. Johnson “put forward an even greater volume of abusive questions in the Written Examinations. The Plaintiff then chose to persistently engaging in abusive and improper litigation correspondence to counsel.”
Mr. Johnson has denied the allegations. He said he truthfully answered Mr. Shapovalov’s 324 questions last year, and then asked Mr. Shapovalov the same questions on September 19, 2022. More than a year later, Mr. Shapovalov has not answered questions. Instead, he filed a motion earlier this year seeking to strike almost all of Mr. Johnson’s questions. The motion remains before the Court.
“There must be a level playing field for all parties,” Mr. Johnson wrote in Court submissions. “I answered his questions. He must answer mine.”
Mr. Johnson said he has repeatedly asked Mr. Shapovalov, Mr. Hafso and other defendants to “cease and desist” their false accusations and smear campaign against him for more than five years. “The defendants have repeatedly and falsely accused me of doing things that they have been doing. It’s DARVO: deny, attack, reverse victim operation,” Mr. Johnson said.
“It is ridiculous for a young athlete worth millions of dollars to demand a Canadian freelance journalist pay him,” Mr. Johnson wrote in Court submissions in February. “It should be the other way around. Mr. Shapovalov must pay me for using my photographs. I shouldn’t have to pay him because he refuses to answer my questions in Court.”
Mr. Shapovalov’s ATP ranking has recently dropped from number 10 to number 93 in the world. He has won 13 and lost 13 matches this year, his worst year since breaking onto the tour in 2017. Citing injuries, he didn’t play at the National Bank Open in Toronto, the US Open in New York nor the Laver Cup in Vancouver.
Mr. Johnson, a veteran journalist and war correspondent who had been accredited to photograph tennis events worldwide for more than a decade, filed a copyright lawsuit in Federal Court on Nov. 3, 2021 claiming that Tennis Canada and players Denis Shapovalov, Felix Auger-Aliassime, Milos Raonic and Genie Bouchard used dozens of his photographs without his consent. In court filings, Mr. Johnson said that he took the photos at events in Tokyo, Melbourne, Madrid, Rome, Paris and Prague and posted them on his social media and websites including GrandSlamMagazine.com.
The Defendants have denied the allegations, and they have demanded several times that Mr. Johnson pay their legal costs, which have likely surpassed more than 100,000 dollars since Tennis Canada’s Toronto-based lawyer David Outerbridge threatened to sue Mr. Johnson for alleged defamation in 2018. Mr. Shapovalov, Mr. Auger-Aliassime, and Tennis Canada CEO Michael Downey have also repeatedly demanded that the Canadian journalist pay them thousands of dollars for asking them “abusive and improper questions” that they have refused to answer in Federal Court.
Mr. Johnson has accused Mr. Shapovalov and his lawyer of using hardball tactics that delay the process, waste his time, and exploit loopholes in the Canadian system instead of paying their bills like other responsible Canadians. Mr. Johnson claims that the Defendants have already paid their lawyers more than his original invoice for their usage of his photographs. He further claimed that the defendants are refusing to negotiate a settlement out of court because they are “milking the taxpayer funded system” at a time when the defendants claim to reside in Monaco and the Bahamas, which are known as tax havens for wealthy elites.
Mr. Hafso, who claims to speak on behalf of Mr. Shapovalov, did not reply with further comment before publication.
“For five years, they’ve been harassing me and gaslighting me to the point of damaging my business, career and health,” Mr. Johnson said. “Then they demand that the Court restrict my ability to defend myself. Then, if I do stand up for myself, they demand I pay them. They want the Court to punish me for defending myself against their bullying. They’ve seen the Court make biased decisions in their favor by rewarding them for this egregious conduct. So, they continue to act like a gang of schoolyard bullies trying to extort money from a lone individual in a weak position, and they demand more and more money every time.”
In his February 9 response in Federal Court to Mr. Shapovalov’s motion to strike almost all of his questions, Mr. Johnson wrote: “The Federal Courts Rules require Mr. Shapovalov to truthfully answer my questions. He cannot evade questions because he doesn’t like them, or because he wants to conceal the truth, or because he’s busy making millions of dollars playing tennis and endorsing products. He cannot deny my right to a proper process of discovery. He’s in the Federal Court of Canada, and he must respect the process. “
“Rule 99(4) required the Defendant to truthfully answer questions within 30 days. That deadline expired on October 18, 2022.”
“Firstly, he could have spent a few hours, or less than a day, truthfully answering my questions, which mainly require answers of “yes” or “no”. Instead, he has spent much more time and money on evading the process and trying to strike questions. His unnecessary motion to strike cost me 10 full days of work to prepare and submit this response. I lost income and potential income because of this.”
“Mr. Shapovalov, who claims to reside in the tax haven of Bahamas, simply believes that he’s entitled to evade the process of discovery and that the laws and legal system in Canada shouldn’t apply to him equally. He expects to have an unfair playing field, and he expects to get away with copyright violations and egregious conduct because he’s a rich and famous young man making millions of dollars a year.”
“The Defendants and their counsel Blake Hafso have repeatedly taken evasive actions to make a meal of the discovery process,” Mr. Johnson wrote. “These Defendants, including Mr. Shapovalov, had the audacity to ask me the same exam questions which they convinced the Case Management Judge to strike! The Court should not applaud this deceitful conduct that disrespects the Court. They have successfully “played” the system in order to delay the process as much as possible while inflating costs. They could have avoided all of this by simply answering questions truthfully.”
“Given the Defendants’ evasive and dishonest conduct in Federal Court, it’s important to note that Mr. Shapovalov has frequently exhibited reckless, dangerous, dishonest and entitled behavior on and off the tennis court.”
“In early 2017, the International Tennis Federation fined Mr. Shapovalov 7000 US dollars for angrily and recklessly hitting a tennis ball that struck umpire Arnaud Gambas in the eye while Mr. Shapovalov was representing Tennis Canada at the Davis Cup. Mr. Gambas was taken to Ottawa General Hospital and later required surgery to repair a damaged eye socket. Mr. Shapovalov later admitted that “I lost the control of my emotions”.
“But that fine and negative publicity failed to deter Mr. Shapovalov’s reckless and disturbing behavior toward umpires, supervisors and paying customers at tennis tournaments.”
“In January 2022, Mr. Shapovalov thought umpire Carlos Bernardes was favoring grand slam champion Rafael Nadal during their Australian Open quarter-final. So, with millions of people watching, Mr. Shapovalov quarreled with the umpire and said “you guys are all corrupt”. Organizers fined Mr. Shapovalov 8000 US dollars, the largest fine of the tournament.”
“This fine also did not change Mr. Shapovalov’s behavior. During a match in Rome in May 2022, Mr. Shapovalov broke the rules by climbing over the net to intimidate his Italian opponent. He quarreled with an umpire and told him “Call the supervisor, that’s bullshit!” When the umpire correctly told him the rule, Mr. Shapovalov said: “No it’s not, it’s stupid.” Mr. Shapovalov then argued with the tournament’s supervisor. When paying customers in Rome booed his arrogant and entitled conduct, Mr. Shapovalov then screamed at them and told them to “shut the fuck up!” He then demanded that security remove customers who in fact paid for the right to cheer for the Italian player against the Canadian, which is normal in any sporting venue anywhere in the world.”
“This profane outburst was broadcast live to millions of people around the world, including children. “Obviously, I think it’s a heat-of-the-moment kind of thing,” Mr. Shapovalov said later, without apologizing to the umpire, supervisor, paying customers and TV viewers. “I just need to improve with handling myself about that.” But this conduct has continued at other tennis events.”
“Mr. Shapovalov has also demonstrated his sense of entitlement and disregard for ordinary working people in his vulgar and profane rap music posted online, which required Youtube to put a warning for “explicit lyrics”. In his song “Night Train”, Mr. Shapovalov boasts that people envy him because he’s rich and famous and doesn’t have to follow the rules:
“I’m making what they make in a year in a day, … they do whatever I say … I’ve been in the ring while these motherfuckers chit-chat … rules to the game but ain’t nobody like me … VIP worldwide everybody know me, I ain’t gonna wait at the front door.”
“I therefore respectfully submit that Mr. Shapovalov is further demonstrating his sense of entitlement and disregard for rules in the Federal Court of Canada. He simply thinks he doesn’t have to pay for using my photographs without my authorization, and he doesn’t have to truthfully answer my questions because he’s got a lot of money to pay his lawyer to get him off the hook. The Court must not reward this.”
Grand Slam Magazine 