World number 12 Frances Tiafoe showed his displeasure towards the umpire for failing to initially call off his Italian Open round of 32 match against home favourite Lorenzo Musetti on Monday due to rain.
The rain descended on the Stadio del tennis di Roma towards the end of the second set that Tiafoe won 6-4, after going down 5-7 in the first set.
The game was ultimately suspended with Musetti leading the third set 2-1 after the decision was taken to suspend Alexander Zverev’s match against J.J Wolf, likewise Stefanos Tsitsipas’ match with Lorenzo Sonego.
Tiafoe was unhappy he had to keep playing in the rain and accused the umpire of bias because he was playing an Italian.
Tiafoe repeatedly made his feelings known towards the match umpire and said that it would have been stopped if he was not playing an Italian.
“How are we playing on this court right now,” The American of Sierra Leonean descent said to the umpire. “How! How are we possibly playing on this court when it’s raining this hard?
“I don’t care! How are we playing on this? How? You’re joking. Every single one of you is playing tricks.
“Of course, you won’t stop this as I’m playing an Italian. I was complaining to you in the first game,” Tiafoe said to the umpire.
“Don’t say ‘I know’ because I’m down a break man… I don’t care about what the radar says I’m looking at the sky. This is exactly what I’m talking about. But now we stop.
“It’s the same thing the other day. How are we playing? You are on the court and you’re watching it.
“How much do I complain? I’ve been on the tour for eight years, have I ever brought you on the court? We stop now.”
Play between Tiafoe and Musetti as well as the other suspended matches will resume on Tuesday.
