Frances Tiafoe fined $120,000 for repeatedly swearing at referee during Shanghai Masters

Frances Tiafoe has been fined $120,000 (almost £95,000) for repeatedly swearing at referee Jimmy Pinoargote following a time violation during last month’s Shanghai Masters.

Tiafoe was fined $60,000 (£47,400) for verbal abuse and a further $60,000 for aggravated conduct.

It is the second highest fine imposed on a player in the history of the ATP Tour, although players have lost more money due to their behavior not being seeded (kicked out) from tournaments, which entails losing prize money .

The Tiafoe camp could not immediately be reached for comment on the fine. He has the right to appeal the fine.

World number 18 Tiafoe was playing against world number 60 Roman Safiullin in China when he served in a tiebreak at 5-5 to determine the outcome of the match. After winning a long rally, the American walked to the baseline and threw a ball into the air, with his right arm – and racket – at his side.

The serving player has 25 seconds after the end of a point to serve to start the next, timed by a clock that automatically starts three seconds after the end of each point. The clock is no longer controlled by the referee as it used to be, which allowed them to use discretion during long rallies or prolonged applause, but also led to accusations of bias and favorable treatment of top players.

Tiafoe claimed he had followed the rules, which say players must start their “service move” within those 25 seconds, but failure to move his hitting arm prompted Pinoargote to commit a time violation. It was his third of the match, so he lost his first serve (and the point) and went down match point. Safiullin won the next point and the match 5-7, 7-5, 7-6(5), after which Tiafoe congratulated his opponent before shouting at the referee:

“F*** you, man. F*** you. Seriously, dude. F*** you. You screwed me,” he told Pinoargote as he walked towards the referee.

After a pause, Tiafoe added: “You ruined the match. Great damn job. F*** you.”

He kept shouting at Pinoargote, telling him, ‘You’re going to be blacklisted from my matches. Never again. I literally had it in front of me today. Fucking insane.”

GO DEEPER

Tiafoe tells the referee that he ruined the match after a controversial time violation

According to the ATP’s 2024 rulebook: “Players must not at any time directly or indirectly verbally abuse any official, opponent, sponsor, spectator or any other person within the premises of the tournament venue. Verbal abuse is defined as any statement about an official, opponent, sponsor, spectator or any other person that implies dishonesty or is derogatory, insulting or otherwise offensive.

“Breach of this section will subject a player to a fine of up to $60,000 (£45,767) for each infringement for ATP Tour Masters 1000 tournaments.

“In circumstances which are egregious and particularly prejudicial to the success of a tournament, or which are particularly egregious, the ATP Supervisor may refer the matter to the ATP Members Fines Committee, which will conduct an investigation to determine whether (a) a serious violation of aggravated conduct or conduct contrary to the integrity of the game has occurred. The prize money earned at that event will be held by ATP until the ATP Member Fines Committee completes their investigation and makes a decision.

Tiafoe’s two fines went to trial, the first for verbal abuse and the second for ‘a serious offense of aggravated conduct’. He is expected to return to the court in late December during the pre-season tournaments for the Australian Open, which starts in Melbourne on January 12.

Hugo Gaston has the dubious honor of receiving the largest fine in ATP Tour history. The Frenchman was fined €144,000 (nearly $152,000) in 2023 for a fourth incident of unsportsmanlike conduct in a single season. While his opponent, Croatian Borna Coric, waited for a smash that would win him a set, Gaston threw a spare ball onto the court. According to tennis rules, a spare ball that affects play results in the point in progress being stopped and replayed.

His fine was reduced on appeal to €77,000 (almost $76,000), subject to a twelve-month period of good behavior.

“Considering past ATP fines, $120,000 is seriously eye-watering.”

Analysis from senior tennis writer Matt Futterman.

That was some seriously expensive fake service.

Frances Tiafoe earned $2.7 million in prize money on the ATP Tour this year. He will have to give back about five percent of that after his verbal tirade against chair umpire Jimmy Pinoargote in Shanghai last month.

This is the equivalent of the ATP Tour throwing the book at Tiafoe. He was paid $60,000 for the series of f-bombs he dropped on Pinoargote and another $60,000 for their “aggravated behavior.” The false serve move that earned him the time violation, cost him his first serve and led to him losing the final two points of the deciding set tiebreak to Safiullin has now cost him a hefty chunk of money.

The rule book allows all of this, but as I’ve said before, I never want a chair umpire to put himself in a deciding set tiebreak that’s tied 5-5. Tiafoe and Safiullin had just played a cracker of a point.

They had given everything they had for the better part of three hours. That is not the time for people who insist on time violations. It is a moment when players can decide the match with their best tennis. The rules should allow a little discretion on the part of the referee to allow the players to catch their breath.

Not currently. The fact that we no longer put the shot clock in the referee’s hands has created this situation, and that decision has been questioned by other players, including world No. 3 Carlos Alcaraz. “It’s crazy,” the then world number 2 told Sky Sports during the Queen’s tournament in London last summer.

“I have time to just ask for two balls and no bounces. I’ve never seen anything like that in tennis.”

Tiafoe had no intention of hitting the ball he threw. He might have been able to avoid a time violation with some more convincing acting, but he shouldn’t have done that and Pinoargote shouldn’t have pulled him up for it. When he did that, Tiafoe should have shown more restraint: no one deserves to be spoken to like that.

But considering the fines the ATP has handed out in the past, that $120,000 still borders on eye-popping.

I think of Alexander Zverev’s attack on a referee’s chair during the Mexican Open in Acapulco in 2022. Like Tiafoe, Zverev did not like a call during the decisive set tiebreak, this time in a doubles match. Like Tiafoe, he dropped some f-bombs on the referee.

He also started chasing away with his racket on the chair, almost hitting the referee’s foot. He sat down, stood up and hit the chair again.

His behavior got him thrown out of the singles tournament. His penalty from the ATP? Zverev was fined $40,000 and then a further $25,000, as well as given a year’s probation, during which repeat offenses would have resulted in an eight-week ban. A direct comparison of the numbers needs some context: an ATP rule change between the two incidents introduced a tiered system of penalties based on the ranking points offered during a tournament. The Mexican Open is an ATP 500; the Shanghai Masters is a 1000, one sport below a Grand Slam.

But were Tiafoe’s actions really twice as bad as Zverev’s and deserving of one of the highest fines in the history of the sport, even taking into account that Zverev lost his prize money for defaulting? Is there any kind of uniformity here?

How about this: Ask yourself what behavior you would rather undergo as a referee. A profanity-laced rant, or someone repeatedly coming within inches of hitting you with a tennis racket?

Tiafoe’s behavior was excessive. His punishment also doesn’t seem in line with what the tour has handed out in the past.

(Top photo: High-quality sports images via Getty Images)