Fabio Fognini has found himself at the centre of controversy once again following his spat with the umpire during his opening match at the Australian Open.
The Italian 12th seed staged a marathon comeback to edge out America’s Riley Opelka 3-6, 6-7(3), 6-4, 6-3, 7-6(5), during the two-day clash. Fognini started his campaign on Monday, but his match was suspended due to the rain. The win improves his career record in five-set matches to 21-13.
Tuesday’s victory wasn’t the talking point of Fognini’s match, it was the behaviour of both him and his opponent. Whilst trailing the match by two sets, 32-year-old smashed his racket onto the ground out of anger. Then in a separate incident he was seen punching his equipment. Prompting a frustrated Opelka to brand umpire Carlos Bernardes as ‘pathetic’ for seemingly not penalising Fognini for time wasting when he received a code violation for the same thing earlier in the match.
“How many f—ing times are you going to let him get away with it?” Opelka could be heard saying.
“You’re f—ing pathetic. He’s done it four times.”
https://twitter.com/doublefault28/status/1219100744239980544
Then it was Fognini’s turn to lose his cool on the court. After being hit with a code violation, the fiery Italian accused Bernardes of giving preferential treatment to players. Suggesting that no such penalty would have been issued if Rafael Nadal had done it. Who Fognini describes as ‘His Majesty’ during a heated exchange between the two.
“I can’t play with a referee who doesn’t give me tranquillity,” Fognini said in Italian.
“When Rafael Nadal asks for it, you [ATP] do it, when Fognini asks for it, you don’t. When His Majesty asks for it, you do it.
“You’re a shame. You’re not fit for this. You can’t give me point penalty for throwing my racket when [Opelka] is saying ‘f**k, f**k’ all the time.
“It’s not like I’m telling you to f**k off, if I told you to f**k off it’d be different.”
It appears that the 32-year-old was making a reference to Nadal’s past request to not have his matches umpired by Bernardes. That was made during 2015 after the two clashed with each other at the Rio Open.
Following the dramatic clash between the two, Opelka admitted that his outburst had a negative effect on him.
“No, not at all. It hurts me.” He told AFP.
“It’s a negative emotion, especially against a guy like him. You want to keep him out of the match as much as possible.
“You don’t want to engage with a guy like that. It’s definitely not a positive thing.”
As for Fognini he is left nursing a bruised index finger after punching his racket. Which he is now having difficulty bending.
Fognini will play Jordan Thompson in the next round.
Fabio Fognini says he busted up his hand by punching his racquet yesterday. Struggling to bend his right index finger. #AusOpen pic.twitter.com/aufMtYwKXW
— Ben Rothenberg (@BenRothenberg) January 21, 2020
