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Adolfo Daniel Vallejo is being called out for a fault.
After the Paraguay tennis star lost his second round match at the French Open tennis tournament May 28, his comments about the female chair umpire who called the contest got him into hot water.
"This sort of match needs to be umpired by a man. It's very difficult for a woman to do it," Vallejo told Clay magazine after the match. "It has to be refereed by a man, because it's a very demanding crowd and you need a lot of strength to go against the crowd."
The 22-year-old lost the match to 17-year-old Frenchman Moise Kouame, who has quickly risen to become a breakout star of his home country’s tournament. As such, the French crowd was rather raucous during the nearly five-hour competition.
"The crowd was very out of line, but I understand they are supporting their compatriot," Vallejo continued. "It's quite an intense crowd, and that's why I was prepared. I already knew it would be like that, and to be honest, it didn't harm me but rather strengthened him.”
During the match, players are allowed 25 seconds between service points, but that timer starts at the chair umpire’s discretion and can be paused if there is excessive commotion in the stadium.
"I think he took up a lot of time on many occasions, lying on the floor or stalling,” Vallejo recalled. “And it's not normal for the crowd to be shouting for a full minute without any play. In a match where the physical aspect matters so much, if you give a player a lot of time, he's obviously going to take advantage of it."
Following Vallejo’s comments, the French Tennis Federation and organizers of Roland-Garros—the official name of the French Open—categorized the player’s statements as “unacceptable.”
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"The competence of an umpire is not determined by their gender, but by their professionalism and ability to officiate at the highest level," the organizations said in a May 29 statement. "The outcome of a sporting event, whether positive or negative, can never justify or excuse such remarks.”
Given the remarks, the tournament noted it will “impose a significant sanction on Adolfo Vallejo in the form of a fine.”
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"The Roland-Garros tournament strongly condemns all sexist remarks, regardless of who makes them,” the statement continued, “and offers its support to the match umpire and, more broadly, to all the tournament's umpiring officials."
After receiving notice of the fine, Vallejo reacted on social media and explained that his words were being misinterpreted.
"I never spoke about women in general,” he wrote in a since-deleted post translated from Spanish on X, per ESPN. “I spoke about the referee specifically, who didn't handle the crowd at any point during the match."
He added, "That said, I also didn't say that I lost because of her. I congratulated the opponent and it's normal for the crowd to cheer for the home player."
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