Fiery Italian Fabio Fognini was disqualified from the Barcelona ATP tournament on Wednesday for verbally abusing a line judge.
The 33-year-old was trailing world number 147 Bernabe Zapata Miralles 6-0, 4-4 in the opening round when he clashed with the official and was defaulted by the umpire for unsportsmanlike conduct.
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Fogini was clearly furious as he stormed off the court, smashing his racquet in disgust as he made his way off.
Fabio Fognini has been defaulted in Barcelona. pic.twitter.com/FkJWWElEQZ
— Tennis GIFs 🎾🎥 (@tennis_gifs) April 21, 2021
The Italian protested his innocence after the match, insisting he had been penalised for something he “didn’t do”.
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“What happened to me was inexplicable,” he told reporters.
“I paid for something that I did not do. I did bad things on court in the past but today I was very calm. I was not even speaking. I will investigate about it. It’s the first time it happens in my life.”
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Fognini is one of only a small number of players to have been defaulted from a match.
The most famous incident involved world number one Novak Djokovic who was disqualified from the 2020 US Open for hitting a line judge with a ball.
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Nick Kyrgios was also defaulted at the Rome tournament in 2019 after hurling a chair on to the court.
Fognini, the world number 27, is no stranger to being disqualified.
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At the 2017 US Open, he was booted out of the tournament and fined $24,000 for a series of insults aimed at a female chair umpire.
