Paraguayan tennis player Adolfo Daniel Vallejo will receive a “significant” fine from the French Open management for making what they considered misogynistic remarks toward a female umpire.
Vallejo, who fell in the tournament’s second round to 17-year-old Frenchman Moïse Kouamé on Thursday, said that his match should have been umpired by a man, rather than official Ana Carvalho. The French Open and French Tennis Federation called these remarks “unacceptable.”
“Referees’ competence is not measured by their gender, but by their professionalism and their ability to officiate at a high level,” French Open management wrote in a Friday press release. “The result of a sporting event, whether positive or negative, can never justify or excuse such remarks.”
“The French Open strongly condemns all sexist remarks from wherever they come from, and offers its support to the umpire of the match, and more broadly to all the tournament’s refereeing officials,” the tournament continued.
Vallejo, 22, told Clay magazine on Thursday that his match “needs to be umpired by a man,” and that it was “very difficult for a woman to do it.” He said that Carvalho was not strong enough to go against a raucous French crowd supporting its hometown player, who defeated Vallejo in a 3–6, 5–7, 6–3, 6–2, 7–6 five-setter.
