Frances Tiafoe could face serious punishment after telling umpire Jimmy Pinoargote that he “f***ed the match up” at the end of his third-round defeat to Roman Safiullin at the Shanghai Masters.
Pinoargote gave Tiafoe a time violation when the American world No. 17 was serving at 5-5 in the final set tiebreak at the tournament in China on Tuesday.
After a lengthy rally, which Tiafoe won, he walked up to the line before throwing the ball into the air, his serving arm by his side.
Pinoargote then issued a time violation, saying, “I’m not buying it, it’s a second serve”, as a disbelieving Tiafoe pleaded his case. It was his third time violation, so he lost his first serve.
“I tossed the ball up ready to serve. That’s the rule,” Tiafoe said, to no avail.
Tiafoe then lost that point, and the next one, to lose the match 5-7, 7-5, 7-6(5). The American calmly congratulated Russia’s Safiullin at the net, before shouting, “F*** you, man. F*** you. Seriously, man. F*** you. You f***ed me” at Pinoargote as he walked towards the umpire.
After a pause, Tiafoe added: “You f***ed the match up. Great f***ing job. F*** you.”
He continued shouting at Pinoargote, telling him, “You’re going to be on the f***ing blacklist for my matches. Never again. Literally had it out for me today. F***ing insane.”
— Tennis Highlights (@TennisHigh61330) October 8, 2024
the drama at the end of the tiafoe/safiullin match pic.twitter.com/HftfltXHew
— emily (@sportyandhot) October 8, 2024
According to the ATP’s 2024 rulebook: “Players shall not at any time directly or indirectly verbally abuse an official, opponent, sponsor, spectator or any other person within the precincts of the tournament site. Verbal abuse is defined as any statement about an official, opponent, sponsor, spectator or any other person that implies dishonesty or is derogatory, insulting or otherwise abusive.
“Violation of this section shall subject a player to a fine up to $60,000 (£45,767) for ATP Tour Masters 1000 tournaments for each violation.
“In circumstances that are flagrant and particularly injurious to the success of a tournament, or are singularly egregious, the ATP Supervisor may refer the matter to the ATP Members Fines Committee who shall conduct an investigation to determine whether (a) Major Offense of Aggravated Behavior or Conduct Contrary to the Integrity of the Game has occurred. Prize money earned at that event shall be held by ATP until the ATP Members Fines Committee has concluded their investigation and made a determination.”
There was no comment on what threshold Tiafoe’s outburst might reach from the ATP when contacted on Wednesday by The Athletic. The tournament was not expected to make a statement.
Tiafoe did not speak to the media after the match but in a statement sent to The Athletic said, “I really regret the way I acted tonight. That is not who I am and not how I ever want to treat people. 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. I’m a work in progress but that’s not acceptable behavior and I want to apologize to the umpire, the tournament, and the fans.”
Any fine could also increase since, per the ATP rules: “A player shall not use an audible obscenity while on-site. Audible obscenity is defined as the use of words commonly known and understood to be profane and uttered clearly and loudly enough to be heard. Violation of this section shall subject a player to a fine up to $5,000 (£3,815) for each violation. In circumstances that are flagrant and particularly injurious to the success of a tournament, or are singularly egregious, a single violation of this section shall also constitute (a) Major Offense of Aggravated Behavior.”
Tiafoe earned $59,100 (£45,085) for reaching the third round in Shanghai, and last month reached the semifinals of the U.S. Open for the second time, losing to his compatriot Taylor Fritz.
There is precedent for a player having an umpire removed from their future matches.
In 2015, Rafael Nadal successfully requested to have Carlos Bernardes — himself involved in controversy this week after incorrectly calling a score on Monday at the Shanghai event — removed from his matches. That was also time violation related, with Nadal upset when Bernardes gave him two time-violation penalties for exceeding the 25-second limit between points during a match in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
An ATP spokesperson said at the time that: “Requests such as this are not uncommon, either from the player or the umpire.”
Bernardes returned to umpire Nadal’s matches the following year.
Tiafoe’s actual time violation incident will also be reviewed by the ATP, and reopens a debate about how the shot clock and time violation rules are enforced.
According to the ATP rulebook, if the shot clock “reaches zero before the server starts their service motion then the Chair Umpire shall issue a violation.”
Pinoargote issued Tiafoe a first time violation at 5-6, 15-30 in the second set, which carries a warning but no loss of serve. He gave him a second at 5-6, 0-30 in the third, after Tiafoe coughed while standing at the service line, which interrupted the start of his service motion.
While that decision appeared borderline, at 5-5 in the tiebreak, Tiafoe’s non-starting of a service motion — instead simply tossing the ball into the air from a standing position — led Pinoargote to issue another. While Tiafoe said that he “tossed the ball ready to serve, that’s the rule,” it is the service motion that the rulebook cites.
Tiafoe is not the first player to attempt to use the discretion built into the rule by attempting to demonstrate his readiness by doing a toss, but when he did so, his hitting arm was by his side and the toss was casually done, suggesting he wasn’t intending to hit the serve but was trying to buy himself some more time. This was Pinoargote’s assessment of the situation.
The shot clock, which counts down the allotted 25 seconds players have between points, was introduced to stop them taking too long before serving. Previously it was up to the umpires to enforce the 25-second rule in what was a less transparent, and sometimes seemingly subjective, way.
This was initially replaced by a clock, controlled by the umpire, that would start upon the calling of the score after a point. In this case, umpires could decide to hold off on calling the score to allow for applause on an exciting point, or just a particularly gruelling rally. Tiafoe and Safiullin had been battling it out for three hours on a humid night when the crucial time violation was called, but the shot clock system in place in Shanghai is not at Pinoargote’s discretion.
Instead, a new system first trialled after the French Open automatically starts the clock three seconds after the previous point has finished, taking away the umpire’s chance to intervene.
During the ATP 500 Queen’s event in London in June, Carlos Alcaraz was vocal about his dislike for the system.
“It’s crazy,” the world No.2 told Sky Sports. “I have time just to ask for two balls and no bounces. I’ve never seen something like that in tennis.”
Umpire Mohamed Lahyani had to remind Novak Djokovic of the clock system during his win over Alex Michelsen in Shanghai on Saturday. Djokovic complained about being given a warning for going over the allotted 25 seconds.
(Top photo: Zhe Ji/Getty Images)