The American Frances Tiafoe asked Sorry for yelling “Fuck you!” to the referee after his loss in the round of 32 of the Shanghai 1,000 Masters, and said he felt “very disappointed” after letting “disappointment” get the best of him.
“I really apologize for the way I acted.. I’m not like that and that’s not how I want to treat people. “I let frustration get the best of me in the heat of the moment and I’m very disappointed in how I handled the situation,” the tennis player said on his Instagram account.
“This was unacceptable behaviour, and I would like to apologize to the chairperson, the tournament and the fans. “I’ll make it better for you all,” he added.
After shaking hands with his opponent, Russian Roman Safiullin, Tiafoe turned to Ecuadorian referee Jimmy Pinoargote and shouted ‘Fuck you, seriously!’ (“Fuck you, really!” in English) on two occasions, also refusing to congratulate him.
According to the expert press, the last reason for Tiafoe’s anger came from the judge’s warnings for the loss of time, which resulted in the cancellation of the first serve in the tie break, with a score of 5-5.
“Three fucking hours and you do this to me! Why? You’ve screwed up my game!” he said.
Although the ATP has not yet commented on the matter, circuit regulations establish a fine of up to $60,000 for verbal attacks at Masters 1,000 category tournaments.
Additionally, the penalty can be greater if the situation is raised to the ATP fines committee, which can conduct investigations in “major” or “particularly egregious” cases.
Tiafoe’s defeat, which took place, as he recalled, after three hours of play, was one of the surprises of the day on Tuesday, as his position in the ATP ranking was 17th, 61st of his rival.
The final score was 5-7, 7-5, 7-6 (5), giving Safiullin access to the round of 16 of the tournament, where he will now face none other than the current world number 4, Serbian Novak Djokovic, player who has won this championship the most times (4).
Source: La Verdad
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