Frances Tiafoe has been fined $120,000 (£95,000) for an X-rated tirade towards an umpire.
The American lost to Roman Safiullin in the round of 32 at last month’s Shanghai Masters 5-7, 7-5, 7-6 (7-5).
Tiafoe and his opponent met to shake hands at the net in a usual sporting manner but the 26-year-old directed his frustrations towards umpire Jimmy Pinoargote.
“F*** you, man,” Tiafoe said.
“F*** you. Seriously, man. F*** you. You f***** in the f****** match.”
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.”
After a cooling down period, Tiafoe posted an apology to social media.
“I really apologise for the way I acted tonight,” Tiafoe said in an Instagram story.
“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.
“That’s not acceptable behaviour and I want to apologise to the umpire, the tournament, and the fans. I’ll be better for y’all.”
However it was not enough to avoid costly consequences, receiving two fines.
He was docked $60,000 for verbal abuse and another $60,000 for aggravated behaviour, making it the second biggest fine imposed on a player in ATP Tour history.
That honour is held by Hugo Haston who was fined nearly $152,000 in 2024 for a fourth incident of unsportsmanlike conduct in a single season.
The ATP’s 2024 rule book states that verbally abusing someone can lead to fines up to $60,000 but, if serious, a supervisor can escalate the matter to a committee for an investigation.
Tiafoe’s management have not made a comment on the fine but they have the right to appeal.
Players have 25 seconds at the end of each point to serve, timed by a clock, but with the score locked at 5-5, Tiafoe tossed the ball up with seemingly little intention of hitting it just before the clock hit zero.
It led the umpire to dish out a time violation and put him onto his second serve.
“No, I tossed the ball up,” Tiafoe said in protest.
“I was at the line and I tossed the ball.”
The umpire responded: “I’m not buying this, it’s the second serve now, OK?”
Tiafoe clapped back: “I tossed the ball, I’m ready to serve. Dude, that’s the rule. The ball goes up, how am I not ready to serve?”
A thrilling 12-point rally ensued that was won by Safiullin thanks to a brilliant cross-court volley, who subsequently won the following point and the match.
Safiullin went on to face tennis superstar Novak Djokovic in the round of 16 but lost 6-3 6-2.
Tiafoe is scheduled to return to the court in December to regain top fitness for the Australian Open which starts January 12 in Melbourne.
