Foul-mouthed Fognini suspended

NEW YORK — Rafael Nadal said on Saturday that tennis chiefs were wrong to wait three days before kicking controversial Italian Fabio Fognini out of the US Open for a vile, sexist tirade at a female umpire.

The 30-year-old Fognini aimed two ugly misogynistic blasts at umpire Louise Engzell as he crashed out in his first-round match against fellow Italian Stefano Travaglia on Wednesday.

But Fognini, with compatriot Simone Bolelli, won two rounds of men’s doubles on Thursday and Friday before the Grand Slam board defaulted him on Saturday.

Fognini, the world No 26, had already been fined $24,000 for the incident.

Tennis chiefs explained the delay in making a decision on a possible suspension on having to wait for a translation of the player’s brief remarks.

“It takes four days for that translation? I don’t think so. Easy to find,” world No 1 Nadal after advancing to the fourth round on Saturday.

“If you are not doing the right things on the court, of course you need to be in some way affected, no?” he added.

“But at the same time it’s true that things can be made to happen earlier because I believe that he played two doubles matches. If they want to suspend him, it would be better to do it immediately, not three days later.

“I think it is not the ideal situation. Probably something that will go immediately to check it, and if he deserve a suspension, he takes it. And if he doesn’t deserve it, don’t take it.”

An official statement said Fognini had been provisionally suspended. As a result, his and Bolelli’s third-round doubles opponents, Nicholas Monroe and John-Patrick Smith, were given a walkover into the quarterfinals.

“Pursuant to the Grand Slam code of conduct, Fabio Fognini is hereby provisionally suspended from further participation in the US Open pending a final determination whether a major offense has been committed during his first round singles match,” said the statement.