Fabio Fognini during a Rogers Cup game (Getty)
Fabio Fognini was unhappy with Tsitsipas’ box during his 3-6, 0-6 loss in Monte Carlo
Fabio Fognini took to social media to hit out at Stefanos Tsitsipas’ father. The Italian was unhappy with the distractions being caused from Tsitsipas’ team box while the match was going on. Fognini succumbed to a straight sets loss against the Greek in the Round of 32 match of the Monte Carlo Masters 2022. After the encounter, Fognini wrote on social media, “Coaching or Not Coaching…That’s a big problem. Right @atptour?” Fognini was clearly hinting towards Tsitsipas’ father’s actions during the match and called upon the governing body of men’s tennis to take appropriate actions.
During the match, there were constant noises from Tsitsipas’ box and Fognini was clearly not happy with that. He reported the issue to the chair umpire but no action was taken by the officials. However, Tsitsipas is unfazed by the allegations. The no.3 seed secured a comprehensive win and was happy with his performance. Speaking after the match, Tsitsipas said, “I was able to really perform close to my best and deliver the result that I did. Nevertheless, I was still able to generate some good pace and create some good angles which gave me a lot of points.”
This is not an one-off incident. Many players have raised complaints regarding Tsitsipas’ father’s actions during a match. There were vivid reactions on social media from fans and followers regarding the repeated occurence of this issue.
“It has to stop with Tsitsipas’ father. Either enforce the rules or get the rid of the rules, but Tsitsipas’ father blatantly ignores them. @atptour”, wrote an user on Twitter.
Another fan seemed to blame Tsitsipas himself. He wrote, “@atptour take some action, it’s unfair for opponents. Everyone is complaining about @steftsitsipas coaching but still he without any ethics continuing to break the rules, how shameful of a top player.”
“Is his father playing with another racquet? Result would be exactly the same, even with Tsitsipas’s father on the moon”, tweeted a fan who believes whatever the incident was, it didn’t affect the result in anyway.
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