Frances Tiafoe repeatedly insults the referee after the Shanghai time violation against Roman Safiullin

Frances Tiafoe could face a major penalty after telling referee Jimmy Pinoargote that he had “screwed up the match” at the end of his third-round defeat to Roman Safiullin at the Shanghai Masters.

Pinoargote handed Tiafoe a time violation as the American world No. 17 served at 5-5 in the final set tiebreak at the tournament in China on Tuesday.

After a long rally that Tiafoe won, he walked to the line before throwing the ball into the air, serving arm at his side.

Pinoargote then called a timeout and said: “I'm not buying it, it's a second serve,” as an incredulous Tiafoe made his case. It was his third violation and he lost his first serve.

“I threw the ball up to serve. That’s the rule,” Tiafoe said in vain.

Tiafoe then lost that point and the next, losing the game 5-7, 7-5, 7-6(5). The American calmly congratulated Russian player Safiullin at the net before shouting: “F*** you, man!” F*** you. Seriously, man. F*** you. Pinoargote shouted “You were kidding me” as he approached the referee.

After a pause, Tiafoe added: “You screwed up the match. Great damn job. F*** you.”

He continued to yell at Pinoargote, telling him, “You'll be on the damn blacklist from my games.” Never again. Today I succeeded in the truest sense of the word. Fucking crazy.”

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— Tennis Highlights (@TennisHigh61330) October 8, 2024

The drama at the end of the Tiafoe/Safiullin match pic.twitter.com/HftfltXHew

– Emily (@sportyandhot) October 8, 2024

The ATP rules for 2024 state: “Players may not at any time directly or indirectly verbally insult an official, opponent, sponsor, spectator or any other person on the grounds of the tournament grounds.” Verbal insults are any statement made about an official, opponent, sponsor, spectator or any other person that implies dishonesty or is derogatory, insulting or otherwise offensive.

“Violation of this section will result in a player at ATP Tour Masters 1000 tournaments being fined up to $60,000 (£45,767) for each violation.

“In circumstances that are egregious and particularly detrimental to the success of a tournament or are particularly serious, the ATP Supervisor may refer the matter to the ATP Members Fines Committee, which will conduct an investigation to determine whether (a) a serious offense or there is serious conduct or there is conduct that is inconsistent with the integrity of the game. Prize money earned at this event will be retained by the ATP until the ATP Members Fines Committee completes its investigation and makes a decision.”

When contacted by ATP on Wednesday, there was no comment on what threshold Tiafoe's breakout might reach The athlete. A statement from the tournament was not expected.

Tiafoe did not speak to the media after the game, but did so in a statement sent to The athlete said: “I really regret the way I behaved tonight. That's not who I am, nor how I would ever want to treat people. I let my frustration out in the heat of the moment and am extremely disappointed with how I handled the situation. I am still developing but this is not acceptable behavior and I would like to apologize to the referee, the tournament and the fans.”

Any penalty could also be increased since the ATP rules state: “A player may not use audible obscenities on the court. Audible profanity is the use of words that are generally known to be profane and are pronounced clearly and loudly enough to be heard. Violations of this section will subject a player to a fine of up to $5,000 (£3,815) for each violation. In circumstances which are flagrant and particularly detrimental to the success of a tournament or are particularly serious, a single breach of this section shall also constitute (a) a serious offense of serious conduct.”

Tiafoe earned $59,100 (£45,085) for reaching the third round in Shanghai and reached the semi-finals of the US Open for the second time last month, where he lost to compatriot Taylor Fritz.

There is a precedent for a player being stripped of refereeing in future games.

In 2015, Rafael Nadal successfully requested that Carlos Bernardes – who was himself embroiled in controversy this week after incorrectly calling a score at the Shanghai event on Monday – be removed from his matches. It also had to do with time violations, as Nadal was upset when Bernardes gave him two time violation penalties for exceeding the 25-second limit between points during a match in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

An ATP spokesman said at the time: “Questions like these are not uncommon, neither from the player nor the referee.”

Bernardes returned to referee Nadal's matches the following year.

Tiafoe's actual time violation incident is also being reviewed by the ATP, reopening a debate over how the shot clock and time violation rules are enforced.

According to the ATP Rules, if the shot clock “reaches zero before the server begins his serve motion, the chair umpire will award a violation.”

Pinoargote gave Tiafoe his first violation at 5-6, 15:30 in the second set, which resulted in a warning but no loss of serve. He gave him a second at 5-6, 0:30 in the third after Tiafoe coughed on the service line, interrupting the start of his serve movement.

While this decision seemed borderline at 5-5 in the tiebreak, Tiafoe's failure to initiate a serve move – instead simply throwing the ball into the air from a standing position – prompted Pinoargote to make another decision. While Tiafoe said he “threw the ball ready to serve, that's the rule,” the rule book cites the serve request.

Tiafoe is not the first player to attempt to use the rule's built-in discretion by attempting to demonstrate his willingness through a throw, but when he did so, his batting arm was at his side and the throw was made casually, suggesting that he didn't intend to hit serve but was trying to buy himself a little more time. This was Pinoargote's assessment of the situation.

The shot clock, which counts down the 25 seconds players have between points, was introduced to prevent them from taking too long before serving. Until now, it has been up to referees to enforce the 25-second rule in a less transparent and sometimes seemingly subjective way.

This was initially replaced by a clock controlled by the referee, which started when the score was announced after one point. In this case, the referees might decide not to announce the score to allow applause for a thrilling point or just a particularly stressful rally. Tiafoe and Safiullin had battled each other for three hours on a sultry night when the crucial timeout was announced, but Shanghai's shot clock system is not at Pinoargote's discretion.

Instead, a new system, first tested after the French Open, automatically starts the clock three seconds after the previous point expires, removing the opportunity for the referee to intervene.

During the ATP 500 Queen's event in London in June, Carlos Alcaraz was vocal about his dislike of the system.

“It’s crazy,” the world number 2 told Sky Sports. “I just have time to ask for two balls and no jumps. I’ve never seen anything like that in tennis.”

Referee Mohamed Lahyani had to remind Novak Djokovic about the clock system during his victory over Alex Michelsen in Shanghai on Saturday. Djokovic complained that he was warned for exceeding the allotted 25 seconds.

(Top photo: Zhe Ji/Getty Images)