US tennis star Frances Tiafoe fined $120,000 for repeatedly swearing at a chair umpire
By Ben Church, CNN
(CNN) — Frances Tiafoe has been fined $120,000 for his profanity-laden outburst at a chair umpire during the Shanghai Masters last month.
The ATP – the governing body for men’s tennis – announced Thursday that its fines committee had handed Tiafoe, who later apologized for his actions, a $60,000 fine for aggravated behavior, in addition to a maximum on-site fine of $60,000 for verbal abuse.
The incident occurred at the Shanghai Masters in October during Tiafoe’s defeat to Russian Roman Safiullin.
The American appeared upset when he was given a time violation on a first serve in the final set tie-break with the scores level at 5-5.
“No, no, no, no, I tossed the ball up … I was ready to serve. Dude, that’s the rule,” Tiafoe could be heard saying towards chair umpire Jimmy Pinoargote, arguing that he had thrown the ball in the air for a serve.
In response, Pinoargote said: “I’m not buying it, it’s the second serve,” before also announcing it was Tiafoe’s second serve on the microphone.
Tiafoe would go on to lose the point and the match. After the players shook hands at the net, the 26-year-old directed his anger towards Pinoargote, aiming a series of expletives at the umpire while Safiullin tried to celebrate his win. Meanwhile, some members of the crowd could be heard laughing.
After the match, the current world No. 18 took to social media to apologize for his behavior.
“That is not who I am and not how I want to treat people,” Tiafoe wrote on Instagram at the time. “I let my frustration in the heat of the moment get the best of me and I’m extremely disappointed with how I handled the situation.
“That’s not acceptable behavior and I want to apologize to the umpire, the tournament and the fans.”
The-CNN-Wire
™ & © 2024 Cable News Network, Inc., a Warner Bros. Discovery Company. All rights reserved.
CNN’s Ben Morse contributed reporting.
