Frances Tiafoe had reserved inappropriate words towards his rivals, during a press conference at Wimbledon, going as far as calling them clowns. The episode occurred at the end of the victory obtained by the American against the Italian Matteo Arnaldi, which gave him the opportunity to redeem himself after the many defeats suffered in the big tournaments.
The 26-year-old American tennis player arrived in Washington in recent days to play the ATP 500 to try to get back into the top 30 of the ATP world ranking. The journalists pressed him on those statements against his colleagues, so Tiafoe tried to justify himself and apologize.
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“I like a lot of team sports and people say much worse things. I saw how Luka Doncic cursed other players, it’s not that serious. I didn’t mean badly when I said it, I use those kinds of words a lot. I get along with everyone on the tour. I feel like I should do better, I was in the top 10 last year. I think it was taken the wrong way, even though it was quite funny in the end. Wawrinka texted me at 7 in the morning the next day, then Berrettini. A lot of tennis players told me about it,” he stressed about what happened in London.
But what had happened? In front of the media at Wimbledon, the American let out some not-so-nice words about the opponents who had beaten him in the weeks preceding that match:
“Last year I was in the top 10 in the world, now I’m barely seeded. I lost to clowns. I hate to say it, but I have to be honest. I’m having a bad season. I took the game for granted and got a little bit comfortable. You stop and you’re in a weird position. You stop having fun and you’re in a weird position. You doubt yourself and these things happen. But that’s the game.”