Referee insulted – Tiafoe completely freaks out after defeat – Sport

Frances Tiafoe verbally attacks the referee at the ATP tournament in Shanghai. The trigger is a timeout.

After his three-set defeat against the Russian Roman Safiullin in the third round of the ATP 1000 tournament in Shanghai, Frances Tiafoe completely lost his nerve. Instead of a handshake, he insulted referee Jimmy Pinoargote violently after the score was 7:5, 5:7, 6:7 (5:7). “F*** you,” the American shouted several times. “You ruined my match.”

The trigger was the 26-year-old’s repeated time violation at 5:5 in the tiebreak of the deciding set, which caused Tiafoe to lose his first serve. He then lost the next two points and thus the game.

Tiafoe follows up with an apology

Tiafoe took the position that he had already thrown the ball up as a test. This is allowed according to the rule book. It is not yet known whether the action will have consequences for the world number 17.

On Instagram Tiafoe later apologized for his outburst. “In the heat of the moment, frustration took over. I am extremely disappointed with how I handled the situation. My behavior was unacceptable. I would like to apologize to the referee, the tournament and the fans,” he wrote.

Djokovic relaxed, Sinner with a turnaround

The game between Novak Djokovic and Wawrinka conqueror Flavio Cobolli was significantly less emotional. The Serbian number 4 in the world had no trouble at all with the Italian at 6:1, 6:2.

Cobolli’s compatriot Jannik Sinner (ATP 1) had to go the full distance against Argentinian Tomas Etcheverry after losing the tiebreak in the first set, but prevailed in three rounds. Another co-favorite, Alexander Zverev (7:6, 2:6, 7:6 against Tallon Griekspoor), had a hard time.

Monfils fears attrition against Alcaraz

In the round of 16 there will be a duel between Carlos Alcaraz (ATP 2) and Gaël Monfils on Wednesday. The Spaniard is seeking revenge after losing to Monfils in three sets in Cincinnati at the end of August. Monfils, who recently celebrated his 38th birthday, was not very optimistic about the game after the victory over his French compatriot Ugo Humbert.

«I think he will “destroy” me. Last time I was just lucky and it wasn’t a good game for him. My chance of winning is about 1 percent,” said world number 46 at the press conference, causing laughter.