ATP hides Frances Tiafoe outburst

If you missed what happened early Tuesday morning during Frances Tiafoe’s match against Roman Safiullin in the Shanghai Masters, you aren’t alone.

That’s because it seems the ATP has all but ignored the three-set thriller on account of Tiafoe’s behavior after a controversial time violation call while the final set tiebreaker was locked at five points a piece.

“No no no no. I tossed the ball. No no no. I tossed the ball. I tossed the ball. I was at the line, I tossed the ball. This is the rule,” an exasperated Tiafoe said as he approached the chair umpire. “Dude that’s the rule! The ball goes up, how am I not ready to serve?”

The chair umpire did not agree, standing by his call that Tiafoe would now be on his second serve. The two-time U.S. Open semifinalist would lose the match two points later. That’s when the wheels came off for Big Foe.

“F*** you man. F*** you. Seriously man, f*** you. You f****d me, I’ll f*** you back,” a livid Tiafoe screamed at the chair umpire following the match.

And while by any means, a Masters round of 32 match that includes a high-profile American player and ends 5-7, 7-5, 7-6 would usually warrant a social media post or two by the ATP, this one went dark on the tour’s social channels after one highlight video from the second set. There’s been no mention of the match, or its result, since the highlight was posted.

As much as the ATP would’ve liked to cover up Tiafoe’s explosion, the video immediately made the rounds on social media. And though some of them have been stricken down on copyright grounds, many videos of the incident are still out there.

For his part, Tiafoe took to social media on Wednesday to apologize for his actions.

“I really apologize for the way I acted tonight. That is not who I am and not how I ever want to treat people,” he wrote. “I let my frustration in the heat of the moment get the best of me and I’m extremely disappointed with how I handled the situation. That’s not acceptable behavior and I want to apologize to the umpire, the tournament, and the fans. I’ll be better for yall.”

As we’ve seen countless times , the attempted coverup usually results in a situation receiving more attention than it would have if there wasn’t such an attempt at damage control. Now it’s the ATP’s turn to learn that lesson.

[X/@edgeAIapp, @budybet, @tweener_head, ATP ]

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