World No.15 Frances Tiafoe has unleashed a shocking outburst directed at a chair umpire following a controversial time violation at the Shanghai Masters.
Earlier in the match, Tiafoe was handed a warning for coughing before his serve which triggered a shot clock warning - much to the frustration of the American.
Things got incredibly heated after Tiafoe broke Roman Safiullin when the Russian served for the match, with the contest poised at 5-5 in the final set tiebreak.
A violation was deemed necessary in what appeared to be a delay of game by Tiafoe as he tossed the ball up gingerly without the intention of serving.
"Time violation. Loss of serve. Mr Tiafoe," umpire Jimmy Pinoargote announced.
The former top-10 player vented his frustration to temporarily pause proceedings, saying: "No. No, no, no. I tossed the ball up. I tossed the ball up. I tossed the ball. I was back behind and I tossed the ball. I tossed the ball and I was ready to serve."
Without hesitation, the umpire responded: "I’m not buying this. It’s a second serve now.”
Despite the decision being final, Tiafoe pleaded his case further by adding: "I tossed the ball. I was ready to serve. Dude that’s the rule. The ball goes up, how am I not ready to serve?"
Forced to hit a conservative second serve, Tiafoe lost the next two points to fall on the losing end of a 5-7 7-5 7-6(5) result.
After Tiafoe walked up to the net to shake Safiullin’s hand, the two-time US Open semi-finalist completely lost his head.
"F*** you, f*** you, man. Seriously, f*** you, f****** idiot. You screwed up the match, do your f****** job. Three f***** hours, I'm fighting and running for my life," he screamed.
Tennis writer Bastien Fachan posted on X: "It doesn’t matter if they make mistakes, nothing, and I mean absolutely nothing, warrants tennis players threatening umpires physically (Zverev Acapulco 2022) or verbally (Tiafoe in Shanghai today)."
It is expected that the ATP will hand down a massive fine and a potentially harsher penalty in response to Tiafoe's behaviour.
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