Fognini tossed for profanity
Fabio Fognini was thrown out of the U.S. Open on Saturday after he allegedly shouted multiple obscenities at a female umpire during his first round defeat.
Swedish umpire Louise Engzell reported Fognini after he allegedly called her a “whore” and c-ksucker” in Italian during his 4-6, 6-7, 6-3, 0-6 loss to fellow Italian Stefano Travaglia on Wednesday.
Fognini, who was scheduled to play his third round doubles match with Simone Bolelli on Sunday, had to withdraw from competition.
Fognini apologized after his second-round doubles match Friday, saying that “everyone makes mistakes.”
If the Grand Slam Board finds that Fognini committed a “major offense,” he could be fined up to $250,000 for violating the code of conduct.
Fognini, 30, is married to 2015 U.S. Open women’s champion Flavia Pennetta. Karolina Pliskova continues to walk the tight rope.
The world No. 1 survived yet another scare, this time against No. 27 seed Zhang Shuai, where she saved a match point Saturday afternoon to escape 3-6, 7-5, 6-4, at Arthur Ashe Stadium.
If Pliskova wants to retain her top ranking, she will need to reach the finals at the Open, but with the way she is playing, her next match against unseeded American Jenni
fer Brady in the fourth round could make for yet another potential scare.
Sam Querrey, the lone American man standing, will make his fourth-round Open debut Sunday against old-school, lefty German serve-and-volleyer, Mischa
Zverev, whose entertaining style is reminiscent of John McEnroe. The older brother of phenom Al
exander Zverev has caught McEnroe’s eye, with his spin serves and chip volleys and southpaw ways.
“He made comments in Australia after I beat Andy [ Murray],’’ Zverev said. “Actually, Friday we were warming up right next to each other. He made a funny statement. He said, ‘You make me feel a lot better about my short swing because now I’m not the guy with the shortest take-back on tour.’ Watching that generation play, there were a lot more people serve-volleying. It’s a little bit of a different tennis because you really have to analyze how people position on the court.’’