American tennis star Frances Tiafoe enjoyed a strong run of form during the summer schedule. Tiafoe reached the final at the Cincinnati Open, losing to Jannik Sinner, this year’s winner at both the Australian Open and the U.S. Open and current world No. 1. Tiafoe then reached the semis at the U.S. Open, losing in five sets to fellow American Taylor Fritz.
However, that stellar run came to an earlier-than-expected end at the Shanghai Open, prompting a profanity-filled tirade against the chair umpire after the match.
Tiafoe squared off against unseeded Roman Safiullin in the third round, losing 5-7, 7-5, 7-6 (5). That match ended minutes after chair umpire Jimmy Pinoargote called Tiafoe for a time violation on his serve. Tiafoe was serving during the final set tiebreak, which was knotted at 5-5. That is when Pinoargote called him for the time violation, which cost Tiafoe his serve. Tiafoe had tossed the ball in the air, though it was unclear if it was an attempt to serve.
You can see that moment in this clip:
“No, no, I tossed the ball up. … I was ready to serve,” Tiafoe said to the chair umpire. “Dude, that’s the rule.”
“I’m not buying it, it’s the second serve,” responded Pinoargote.
Tiafoe lost the point, and eventually the match. After shaking hands with Safiullin, he walked towards Pinoargote and, rather than the customary shanking of hands with the umpire, Tiafoe unloaded:
The outburst initially garnered laughter from the crowd, but that laughter quieted as Tiafoe continued. “F— you, man! F— you! Seriously, man. F— you,” exclaimed Tiafoe. “You f—ed me out of the f—ing match!”
Tiafoe, who is currently the 13th-ranked men’s singles player in the world, could face a fine of $60,000 for his outburst, under the ATP Rule Book section governing conduct at Masters 1000 tournaments.
