French Open star calls out umpire minutes after he’s told to stop swearing | Tennis | Sport

Frances Tiafoe was told to stop swearing when he called the umpire down to check a ball mark during his French Open quarter-final clash with Lorenzo Musetti. It was a tense affair, with Musetti avoiding disqualification and receiving a code violation earlier on when he kicked a ball away and unintentionally hit a line judge.

Tiafoe was the one becoming frustrated in the fourth set as he shouted “f***” when Musetti extended his lead to 4-1, then continued dropping expletives in a chat with the chair official about a mark. And the 15th seed called the umpire out a few games later, becoming exasperated in the final game of the match when one of Musetti’s shots caught the line again and repeatedly asking for an explanation.

Tiafoe had Musetti feeling flustered when he took the second set. But the American lost the third and soon started to run out of gas.

With the Italian eighth seed serving at 4-2 with a double break in the decider, Tiafoe asked the chair umpire to double-check whether one of his opponent’s serves landed in.

“It’s touching here,” Timo Jansen explained, pointing to the mark the ball had left in the clay. But Tiafoe thought it had touched a different line, meaning it wasn’t classed as in.

“I know, but the long line though. That’s the f***ing, that’s the f***ing,” , before Jansen immediately told him to drop the language.

“No f***ing,” he said. Tiafoe conceded and the official went back to his chair, with Musetti’s serve officially being called in.

“Timo Jansen warning Frances Tiafoe to watch his language. We are going to miss all this human interaction in however many years, when we do have electronic calling here,” TNT Sports commentator Nick Mullins said as play continued.

Musetti held serve, inching closer to his second career Grand Slam semi-final. But it wasn’t Tiafoe’s last conversation with the umpire.

The American had to serve to stay in the match, trailing 2-5, and was under pressure while facing match points. Musetti hit a return that was called out but Jansen came back down and overruled the call.

“Oh no, oh no, no, no. This is not going to end well!” Mullins explained as Tiafoe marrched over to the umpire.

“How is that in? How is that in?” he asked as he called out the umpire, walking around the mark to get a better angle. But Jansen remained firm and added: “It’s just touching the edge of the line.”

The point was replayed, giving Musetti another chance to win the match and reach the last four. Tiafoe saved the first match point but the No. 8 seed took it on his second when the American netted the ball.

Addressing Tiafoe’s conversations with the umpire, Mullins jibed: “I don’t think they’re going out for dinner tonight, those two.”