Frances Tiafoe has been hit with a staggering combined fine of £95k ($120k) after he repeatedly swore and shouted at an umpire during the recent Shanghai Masters.
The American lost a tight three-hour match to Roman Safiullin in a final set tiebreak, where Tiafoe received a time violation. After shaking hands with his opponent, he screamed « f*** you » at the chair official.
The ATP Fines Committee has now confirmed that Tiafoe has been punished for ‘aggravated behaviour’.
More than a month after his outburst in Shanghai, Tiafoe has now been given two separate fines. The ATP has not publicly addressed the incident and has yet to share the outcome of any review into the world No. 18’s incident.
But, according to Eurosport, the men’s tour’s fines committee charged Tiagoe £47k ($60k) for “verbal abuse in Shanghai” and the same ammount for “aggravated behaviour”.
By reaching the third round, Tiafoe pocketed £46.5k ($59.1k) in prize money. It is not known whether the ATP will also take away his prize money or points for his behaviour.
The 26-year-old apologised hours after leaving the court, sharing a statement on his Instagram story. “I really apologise for the way I acted tonight,” he wrote.
“That is not who I am and not how I ever want to treat people. I let the 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 behaviour and I want to apologise to the umpire, the tournament, and the fans. I’ll be better for yall.”
Tiafoe wasn’t happy when he received a time violation at a crucial moment in the match. The American was serving at 5-5 in the deciding tiebreak. Because it was his second time violation, he lost his first serve and immediately had to attempt a second serve.
“Time violation, loss of serve. Mr Tiafoe,” umpire Jimmy Pinoargote announced. Tiafoe stormed up to the chair, protesting that he threw the ball.
But the umpire wasn’t having it, as it appeared to be a false toss from Tiafoe to buy himself more time. “No. No, no, no. I tossed the ball up. I tossed the ball up. I tossed the ball. I was back behind and I tossed the ball. I tossed the ball and I was ready to serve,” Tiafoe claimed.
Pinoargote replied: “I’m not buying this. It’s a second serve now.”
Tiafoe continued to plead his case, adding: “I tossed the ball I was ready to serve. Dude that’s the rule. The ball goes up, how am I not ready to serve?” But he was forced to return to the baseline and accept the call.
The 26-year-old landed his conservative second serve in and found himself dragged into a lengthy exchange, with Safiullin coming out on top. The Russian then hit an ace to win 5-7 7-5 7-6(5).
After shaking hands with his opponent, Tiafoe turned his attention to the umpire. “F*** you man. F*** you. Seriously man. You f***ed me the f***ing match,” he ranted.
“Three f***ing hours and you’re going to do that. Why? You f***ed the match up. Great f***ing job. F***.”
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