Frances Tiafoe takes the ‘rowdy’ Italian crowd head on by asking them to boo louder after he shocked Lorenzo Musetti with an underarm serve

Frances Tiafoe fearlessly confronts the energetic Italian crowd, encouraging them to amplify their booing

Frances Tiafoe takes the ‘rowdy’ Italian crowd head on by asking them to boo louder after he shocked Lorenzo Musetti with an underarm serve

Frances Tiafoe (Image via ESPN)

Frances Tiafoe faced the Italian crowd’s favorite youngster Lorenzo Musetti in the round of 32 of the 2023 Italian Open. The match was eventually suspended due to rain. Frances Tiafoe was unhappy as the match continued even when it started to rain.

“It’s absolutely pouring with rain. The lines are slick as hell. How are we playing?”, said Tiafoe to the chair umpire, Jaume Campistol. Frances Tiafoe complained as the rain got even heavier and aslo mentioned that the match would have been stopped if his opponent was not an Italian.“Look at the court. It’s the same how it is now but we stop now? I don’t understand when a player is complaining it doesn’t matter. You can’t play on the court.” Said Frances Tiafoe to match supervisor, Ali Nili.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rqiiLmnlMQw

The match was stopped only when Tiafoe went 2-1 down in the third set. Lorenzo Musetti was impressive during the match and holds a break in the deciding set. Frances Tiafoe played an underarm serve to which the crowd reacted with harsh boos. Frances Tiafoe, however, was not intimidated and gestured for them to boo even louder.

FS Video

Hostility from the fans is not uncommon when playing against a crowd favorite but what pushed Tiafoe to his limits is the fact that the match was not stopped earlier. He had to remain in court and play even in the rain. Frances Tiafoe remained unbothered by the boos and he placed his palms against his ears to invite the home crowd to boo even louder. The video is getting shared on social media and is quite a sight to behold.

Also Read: Andy Murray sarcastically DEMANDS a bigger cake than Carlos Alcaraz’s on his birthday referring to the infamous saga at the Madrid Open

Frances Tiafoe calls tennis posh and country club sport

Frances Tiafoe
Frances Tiafoe (Images vis The New York Times)

American tennis professional, Frances Tiafoe talked about tennis being a posh sport, back in January 2023. He expressed that he wanted to add some flavor to tennis“I want to change the way the game’s looked at. You get this, Tennis is posh, prissy, a country club sport, I want to bring some flavor to the game,” said Frances Tiafoe.

It should be noted that by flavor he probably meant some kind of flair or personality. Tennis has always been formal and strict. Even the very bests have been known to be bound by the rigid nature of tennis. Frances Tiafoe called tennis ‘prissy’ referring to its over-the-top nature of being respectable and fussy.

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