Frances Tiafoe fumed at being handed another “ridiculous” time violation as he beat Great Britain’s Cameron Norrie in straight sets at the Erste Bank Open in Vienna.
Fifth seed Tiafoe was sanctioned during the first set in Austria on Tuesday and shouted in the chair umpire’s direction after he closed out the set.
The American, who beat Norrie 6-4 7-6 (7-4) to set up a second-round meeting with Matteo Berrettini, picked up a time violation for the fourth match in a row.
Speaking afterwards about his outburst – which was not his first on the court in recent weeks – Tiafoe said he understands he is a role model to youngsters but did not hold back on the officials, demanding an explanation for his regular punishments.
“A lot of my fans are kids. I understand the effect I have and that kids want to be like me,” said Tiafoe, a three-time winner on the ATP Tour.
“The passion and joy they play with, they can see themselves in me. I don’t take that for granted.
“At the same time, we put in a lot of blood, sweat and tears out here. For me to play four consecutive matches and get four consecutive time violations is insane.
“It needs to be spoken about because then it’s loss of points, loss of money, loss of opportunity, fines that come because of reactions.
“I’ll deal with it better when they make a change. The more I go on with it, I don’t think any change will happen.
“Four violations in four matches is pretty ridiculous to me. I have been on the tour 10 years and that has never happened, so I want to know why.”
What’s coming up on Sky Sports Tennis?
- Erste Bank Open, Vienna – ATP 500 (October 21-27)
- Swiss Indoors, Basel – ATP 500 (October 21-27)
- Guangzhou Open, China – WTA 250 (October 21-27)
- Toray Pan Pacific Open Tennis, Tokyo – WTA 500 (October 21-27)
