Following a tirade with a chair umpire at the Shanghai Masters on Monday, Frances Tiafoe later issued an apology via social media.
Tiafoe, 26, ranked No. 17 in the world, berated the chair umpire following a tightly contested 5-7, 7-5, 7-6 (7-5) loss to unseeded Roman Safiullin of Russia.
After congratulating Safiullin, the American star directed his attention to the official over a pair of time violations — including one late in a third-set tiebreak.
“F— you, man! F— you! Seriously man, f— you!” Tiafoe yelled at chair umpire Jimmy Pinoargote. “You f—ed me in the f—ing match … Three f—ing hours and you’re gonna do that. Why? … You f—ed up the match up! Great f—ing job! F— you! Three f—ing hours I’m f—ing out here battling, only for my livelihood.”
After cooling off, Tiafoe posted a contrite story on his Instagram account.
“That is not who I am and not how I ever want to treat people,” Tiafoe wrote. “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. I’ll be better for y’all.”
Tiafoe is coming off his deepest run in a Grand Slam event, advancing to the semifinals at the U.S. Open last month before losing to fellow American Taylor Fritz.
–Field Level Media
