Andy Roddick says it is no secret that players use fake ball tosses to restart the clock and it usually works but Frances Tiafoe’s mistake was that he “did not pretend enough” that he actually meant to serve.
The world No. 15, who usually describes himself as a very chill and relaxed person, delivered one of the most stunning meltdowns of the year at the Shanghai Masters.
With him and Roman Safiullin tied at 5-5 in the third-set tie-break, the American was slapped with a time violation although he tossed the ball into the air because chair umpire Jimmy Pinoargote felt he was faking it to get a new time to serve. Since it was Tiafoe’s second violation, he automatically lost the point – the Russian went 6-5 up – before converting his match point.
The 26-year-old then started hurling obscenities at Pinoargote, telling the umpire that he “f—– him” in a rant that featured 13 F-bombs.
Frances Tiafoe© X screenshot
The incident sparked debates, with some siding with the umpire and highlighting that he realized what Tiafoe was trying to do while others argued that if others get away with fake tosses, the American should not have been an exception.
Roddick: Tiafoe didn’t pretend enough…
“The shot clock, the easiest way to reset it is to fake a toss. Basically, the ruling on Frances was, you didn’t pretend enough for me to make me think that it was a realistic attempt, where if we’re going letter of the law, it should have reset when Frances tossed the ball no matter what it looked like,” the 2003 US Open champion said on the Served with Andy Roddick.
“If you’re going to let everyone get away with it all year long but because they are faking and going through this weird end of this dumb rule where the toss isn’t part of the serve, which I’ll never believe… Frances didn’t do anything different to anyone all year; he basically just made a mockery of it.”
Following a third-round Shanghai exit and his meltdown that went viral, Tiafoe issued an apology, saying that was “not who I am and not how I ever want to treat people.”