Nadal criticises delay in Fognini ban, Bopanna furious

NEW YORK, September 3

Rafael Nadal insisted that tennis chiefs were wrong to wait three days before kicking controversial Italian Fabio Fognini out of the US Open for a vile, sexist tirade at a female umpire.

The 30-year-old Fognini aimed two ugly misogynistic blasts at umpire Louise Engzell as he crashed to defeat in a first-round singles match against fellow Italian Stefano Travaglia on Wednesday. However, Fognini, with compatriot Simone Bolelli, won two rounds of men’s doubles on Thursday and Friday before the Grand Slam board defaulted him on Saturday.

Fognini, the world No. 26, had already been fined $24,000 for the incident.

Tennis chiefs explained the delay in making a decision on a possible suspension on having to wait for a tranlsation of the player’s brief remarks.

“It takes four days for that translation? I don’t think so. Easy to find,” said Nadal.

“Of course if you are not doing the right things on the court, you need to be in some way affected. But at the same time it’s true that things can be made (to) happen earlier because I believe that he played two matches after that match, two doubles matches. If they want to suspend him, (it would) be much better to do it immediately, not three days later or four days later.” 

Fognini and Bolelli’s third-round doubles opponents, Nicholas Monroe and John-Patrick Smith, were given a walkover into the quarterfinals.

India’s Rohan Bopanna, who had lost in the second round of the doubles to the Italian pair alongside partner Pablo Cuevas, accused the organisers of dithering.

“I wanted them to play the whole tournament. If US Open is letting them play two rounds. Let them play whole thing and then make a decision,” Bopanna tweeted.

“If a player is under investigation, as a tournament you do not schedule his match till a decision has been taken. It’s a career of all the individuals who are invloved. Which US open clearly do not care about.” — AFP