Frances Tiafoe has issued an apology following an outburst directed at a chair umpire after he received a time violation and subsequently lost to Roman Safiullin in the third round of the Shanghai Masters on Tuesday.
Unseeded Safiullin triumphed over the 13th seed Tiafoe with a score of 5-7, 7-5, 7-6(5) in a match that lasted nearly three hours. Tiafoe became agitated after being penalized for a time violation while serving with the score tied at 5-5 in the final set tiebreak.
“I tossed the ball up… I was ready to serve. Dude, that’s the rule,” Tiafoe argued as he approached the net to speak with the umpire, Jimmy Pinoargote. The umpire replied, “I’m not buying it, it’s the second serve,” and pronounced “second serve” over the microphone, concluding the discussion. Tiafoe lost the point and ultimately the match.
After greeting Safiullin at the net, Tiafoe expressed his frustration towards Pinoargote, using foul language as he returned to his seat, drawing laughter from a small group of fans who remained.
The ATP has not commented on the situation yet, but the rules indicate that Tiafoe could face fines up to $60,000 for each incident at Masters 1000 events.
Later, Tiafoe took to Instagram to apologize for his behavior. “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,” he stated. “That’s not acceptable behavior and I want to apologize to the umpire, the tournament, and the fans.”
Currently ranked 17th in the world, Tiafoe has recently demonstrated strong performance, reaching the finals of both the Citi Open and the Cincinnati Open, and making it to the semi-finals of the U.S. Open.