Stefanos Tsitsipas became the latest player to lose his cool at the Shanghai Masters, accusing a chair umpire of having “no clue about tennis” and insisting on needing to “talk to a supervisor” during a lengthy rant Wednesday.
Tsitsipas called out umpire Fergus Murphy for calling a time violation on the 10th-seeded Greek in the second set of his match against No. 5 Daniil Medvedev.
After Tsitsipas initially asked why umpires are “against me so much,” Murphy suggested that the two-time Grand Slam finalist should “watch more matches” before explaining the reason for the time violation. Tsitsipas then double-faulted and was broken by Medvedev on the ensuing point, prompting another exchange with Murphy.
“Have you never played tennis in your life?” Tsitsipas said. “You have no clue about tennis, it seems like.”
“I’m not as good as you are, but I’ve played,” Murphy responded.
After jabbing at Murphy by saying he “probably played serve-and-volley every single time,” Tsitsipas implored the Irish umpire to “show some compassion.”
“Tennis is a physical sport and we need some time over there,” Tsitsipas said. “You have to show some compassion, because you aren’t showing any. It’s a physical sport. We are not throwing darts out here, OK?”
Murphy again suggested that Tsitsipas keep his eye on the shot clock to avoid time violations, but Tsitsipas refused to continue playing.
“If it’s going to be unfair, I need to talk to the supervisor,” he said. “You seem like you have no idea what you’re doing. … If you’re going to give the game like this to my opponent, then I need to talk to the supervisor.”
Tsitsipas eventually lost, 7-6 (3), 6-3 to Medvedev, who will play top-seeded Jannik Sinner in the quarterfinals.
In a similar incident Tuesday, 13th-seeded American Frances Tiafoe cursed repeatedly at a chair umpire over a time violation but later apologized. Later that day, second-seeded Alexander Zverev accused umpires of “f—ing up the whole tournament this year,” as part of a tirade during his match.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.