WATCH: Frances Tiafoe snubs chair umpire after loss to Denis Shapovalov in French Open 2r
Frances Tiafoe suffered an upset against Denis Shapovalov in their 2024 French Open second-round clash. Post-match, he offered a quick handshake to the Canadian before snubbing the chair umpire.
25th-seed Tiafoe and unseeded Shapovalov went toe-to-toe on court 11 on Thursday (May 30). They fought an extremely even first set which went to a tie-breaker that the American player won 7-6(4).
Shapovalov, however, staged an impressive comeback to win the next three sets 6-4, 6-2, 6-4 and advance to the third round.
During the early exchanges in the second set, Shapovalov came to the net and Tiafoe blasted a return that hit the Canadian close to his face. The American immediately apologized for his shot. However, after the 25-year-old secured the win, Tiafoe offered a seemingly cold handshake to him.
Moreover, the 26-year-old American even snubbed the chair umpire and did not shake the official's hand. He went straight to his bench as Shapovalov shook the umpire's hand.
Watch Tiafoe's actions after facing defeat in the second round below:
Tiafoe has not been having a great run of form, and his early exit at the French Open continued that trend.
Last week, he faced a second-round defeat at the Lyon Open. Before that, he faced three consecutive opening-match defeats at the Madrid Open, the Sardegna Open, and the Italian Open.
Shapovalov has not been in great form either. He faced an early exit at the Italian Open. At the Madrid Open, however, the Canadian reached the third round before fourth-seed Alexander Zverev got the better of him.
At the Paris Slam, Shapovalov is enjoying a good run so far. He won his first-round match 6-3, 6-4, 6-4 against Luca Van Assche before defeating Tiafoe in the second round. In the third round, the Canadian will face a tough test against eighth-seed Hubert Hurkacz.
Frances Tiafoe's girlfriend Ayan Broomfield defends him amidst his poor run of form at the French Open 2024
In the first round of the 2024 French Open, Frances Tiafoe won a hard-fought match against Mattia Bellucci. The 2022 US Open semifinalist emerged triumphant 6-3, 3-6, 6-7(6), 6-4, 6-4.
After the match, he took to Instagram to post about his win and captioned the image:
"Nothing good comes easy..... round 1 (green tick emoji). See y'all again tomorrow (three fist emojis). #godspeed #humble&hungry #darkhorse."
An Instagram user commented on his post:
"Man you not him right now bro you need to get some wins"
Ayan Broomfield, Frances Tiafoe's girlfriend defended him from the criticism and wrote:
"He’s been him. always him. take your negativity elsewhere (followed by two heart emojis)"